You Are So Worth Loving
by Abluenotebook
Summary: How did Tonks and Remus get together? Well it involves Nova Tank, time travel, an attack on muggleborns, and lots of teasing from the fellow Marauders.
1. Chapter 1

**EDIT JULY 13: Hi! long time no see! I'm back! I'm re-writing the chapters before I continue on with the story. As I read them over to begin again I realized they were jumblely and confusing so these new ones should be better. If you've read them before i suggest you read them again, I've changed them dramatically. If you're new, welcome! PLEASE, leave a review and give it a follow. I plan to finish this story before the end of summer.**

The spell zoomed across the room hitting a girl who had been looking the other way. She stumbled forward as a blinding pain began in her leg and slithered up her body. Gritting her teeth she attempted to ignore the pain and keep fighting. This was about Harry and his friends, she needed to be sure that they were safe and at back at Hogwarts before she focused on herself. She latched onto the sounds around her in an attempt to fight through whatever spell had hit her. However the yells and screams that echoed around her didn't help the pain that was continuing its way through her body.

Across the room she spotted Remus holding onto Harry as he screamed. She stared in confusion at the two and began towards them. Making it only a few steps until she stumbled forward, the throbbing pain that began in her leg making it close to impossible to walk. Falling forward onto her hands she hissed at the new pain from the contact of her palms hitting the rough floor.

She pulled her head back to look at the two only to find Remus alone.

"Remus!" She called out hoping to gain his attention. Her yell hurt and she had to close her eyes to block out the pain that was now beginning in her head.

"Nymphadora!" Someone was yelling her name. "Nymphadora!" They yelled again, this time much closer.

"Wha?" She mumbled and opened her eyes. The sudden light blinding her for a moment.

"Get up! Tonks we need to move!" Slowly Remus Lupin came into focus. He looked panicked and rushed. He was pulling her up and trying to get her to move, but she couldn't figure out why.

"Where's Harry? He was just with you."

"We need to leave. Now." Remus paid her words no mind as he pulled her to her feet and began running.

Groggily, she stood and began to stumble after the older man. Glancing around quickly she saw why he had been so desperate to get her to move. Two big Death Eaters were heading in their direction. Widening her eyes she picked up her pace only to fall over and pull Remus down with her. Her leg hurt too much for her to put too much pressure on it. Remus quickly jumped back up and fired a spell in the direction on the Death Eaters before pulled Tonks to her feet yet again. He wrapped one of her arms across his shoulders while latching onto her hip, supporting most of her weight.

They began running again, leaving the large room the Order had found Harry in. As they trudged through a long hall way Tonks found herself lost. She may have worked here but the pain in her leg was distracting and she had no clue where they could be heading.

Tonks was now breathing heavily, and was eager to get away from the death eaters following them. "Lupin," she gasped. "Let's hide." They couldn't keep running forever, she wouldn't make it much farther.

"Where?" He growled, frustrated.

Tonks looked about desperately trying to figure out where they were. "Left?" Her direction coming out much like a question.

Remus followed her instructions, taking a left and continuing down the long hallway.

"Uh…" Tonks blinked rapidly, trying to gather her surroundings.

Remus however spotted a door halfway down the hall and hurried towards it. Quickly he ripped it open and threw both of them in before slamming the door shut. He gently put Tonks down on the ground of what looked like an abandoned storage closet, then rushed to the door and placed his ear against it.

Tonks squeezed her eyes shut. The Death Eaters either have no clue where they were or they were just outside the door. She braced herself for the worst.

"What hurts?" Lupin whispered causing Tonks to jump.

"Uh, m-my leg. My entire body actually, but the spell hit my leg."

Remus gripped his wand and brought it closer to her leg.

"Woah, woah, woah. Do you even know what you're doing?" Tonks was slightly weary about Remus' healing skills. It wasn't very long ago that she'd met him, she wasn't sure how good he was at this.

He only gave her a look, "Do you want to continue to sit there in pain?" He raised an eyebrow as if daring her before continuing. "I know healing spells, I do them on myself all the time."

Tonks only blinked realizing that he was talking about being a werewolf, a fact that she had forgotten in the heat of the moment. "Okay," she gave a nod.

She watched him wave his wand and mumble a few spells with expertise. After a moment the throbbing pain subsided and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"It was just a spell that causes pain, I reversed it. You should be fine." Remus breathed, giving her a tight smile before moving back to the door.

Tonks feel back onto the cool floor as her breathing began to even out. From her spot she studied the small room she was in, she frowned at the amount of dusty boxes that were stacked carefully around the room. The ministry wouldn't fill up such a small room with boxes, this must be a forgotten room. Tonks sat up and opened the nearest box.

"What are you doing? Don't mess with that." Remus commanded.

Tonks ignored him, reaching in and pulling out one of the many necklaces the box was full of. It was very plain, just a chain with a charm on the end. The charm was an hour glass, and as Tonks glanced back into the box she noticed that all the necklaces where the same. "Huh, how strange."

"You don't know what that does, don't mess with it." Remus hissed, reaching forward to take it from her. Tonks glared and held it out of his reach. "Nymphadora," he scolded.

"I'm only curious," she explained. "What if it can help us?"

"You found it in a random box," Remus pointed out. "It could be dangerous."

"So? Outside that door are two death eaters waiting to kill us."

Remus reached forward again to take it from her. Tonks held it in her fist, trying to keep it safe when a sharp pain cut through her palm.

"Ahk!" She exclaimed and opened her palm, more intrigued than worried about the pain. The hour glass was spinning wildly, almost out of control. She glanced up at Remus, whose eyes were wide.

"Drop it, drop it!" He shouted, but it was too late. In shock she watched Remus disappear. She was now alone, with nothing put her wand and a Time Turner.

Her breathing picked up as she began to panic. She shuffled backwards until her back hit the wall. She stood there for what seemed like hours until she finally controlled her breathing and forced herself to calm down. Running a hand through her short hair, she looked down at her hand. Blood dripped out of a large cut in her palm. The Time Turner was in pieces, the glass shattered and the sand mixing with the blood pooling around the cut. She stared at it for a few moments before placing it in her pocket and heading for the door.

When her hand touched the door knob she paused. Turning back to the box of Time Turners she reached in and grabbed a handful before finally leaving the room.

Peaking around the corner, Tonks saw it was empty so she quickly began walking down it. She was alone at the ministry at an unknown time. If someone spotted her and noticed that she didn't seem to belong they would take her to the main desk and see that her wand wasn't checked in. She had basically snuck into a government building, she could get years and years in Azkaban for this. Tonks knew what Azkaban did to a person, she only had to look at her cousin to know that.

Finally after carefully peaking around corners and seeing only empty halls, Tonks entered the main room in the Ministry. The bustling people paid no mind to her despite her disheveled appearance. She awkwardly shuffled towards the nearest Flo. She was half way there when someone in particular caught her eye.

Albus Dumbledore.

The man himself walked right past her, giving her a small smile. She watched him, even turning around so she could keep her eyes on him. Her mind began racing.

What time was she? She didn't know. What was she going to do? She didn't know. Could she get help? She didn't know. Could anyone help her? One man could.

Tonks' hands flew to her hair and she quickly untangled the nots. She began after the man as she smoothed her shirt and adjusted her cloak.

"Excuse me, Professor?" Tonks called after the older man.

He turned to look at her and gave a small smile, "Yes?"

"Hi! Um… I'm uh, Nova… Tank. Nova Tank. And if you don't mind me asking Professor, do you happen to have any openings at Hogwarts?" Tonks stumbled through her words, mentally scolding herself.

"I do in fact." The older man nodded at her.

"I'd like to apply." Tonks stood taller, willing herself to be more confident than she felt.

"You don't even know the position." Dumbledore replied softly.

Tonks faltered but quickly gathered herself. "Security?" From her days at Hogwarts she remembered that the school was always short staffed when it came to security and discipline. How the teachers often complained of the lack thereof.

"I look forward to your application Ms. Tank."


	2. Chapter 2

**EDIT JULY 13**

Tonks played idly with her pink hair, thinking back to the moments before Remus had pulled her up from the floor back in her own time. Would she be able to get back? Or was she going to be stuck here forever? Stuck in the years just before the war started.

Running her hand through her short hair, Tonks stood up from her bed. She needed a distraction, her mind kept going back to the ministry. To Harry and his friends standing before a group of Death Eaters, to the look on Sirius' face when he approached Lucius Malfoy. What had happened? Did everyone make it out okay? Oh, she would kill to know.

After much too long of being lost in her thoughts Tonks was grateful for the knock on her door. She rushed to open it and found Professor McGonagall standing in the doorway.

Tonks could clearly see how different she looked. Her face was so much younger. The wrinkles that she had once thought made McGonagall McGonagall were almost nonexistent. Her hair had almost no trace of grey. Yet despite all this her choice in robes still remained the same and she was dressed in something from the last century.

"Professor Dumbledore wanted me to go over a few things that he forgot to mention." The older woman spoke stiffly.

"Er," Tonks noticed how awkward the conversation seemed to be. Almost like it was forced and that McGonagall would rather be elsewhere. "Okay."

"As Dumbledore explained earlier, you are to protect the students from themselves more than the outside world."

After Tonks had formally applied and Dumbledore had happily hired her, he had gone over the basics of her job. He said that many parents with himself included were worried about the attacks that had been happening throughout the wizarding world. Tom Riddle or Lord Volemort was becoming a danger to society, however the Ministry did not think that he would dare come close to the school.

Dumbledore knew that the students would be sucked into whatever was happening outside of the world. They may take sides or begin to fear what was happening. Tonks' main job was to keep the peace at the school. Keep the students calm and focused on their studies.

"Yes Professor," Tonks nodded more from habit than anything else.

McGonagall gave her an odd look before continuing, "I trust that you were informed about the Remus Lupin?"

Remus? He was here? "Um..."

"He's a werewolf," McGonagall stated. "He has permission to leave school grounds once a month during the full moon, but his friends do not. If they are seen out of bed with Mr. Lupin they are to be punished. Is that clear?"

"Yes?" Tonks was unsure about that. Why should Remus' friends be punished for trying to help him out? Weren't they all animagi? Didn't they join him for the full moon? Tonks tried desperately to remember.

McGonagall gave Tonks a doubtful look and Tonks was beginning to wonder if the older woman disliked her. "The students will be here soon, you are expected to be at the feast."

"Okay." Tonks nodded.

"Thank you Miss Tank," she said before leaving.

Tonks couldn't help but to smirk a little to herself. She was really proud of herself for coming up with a fake name to go by, just in case, and Nova Tank was a pretty good name considering she had come up with it on the spot. With a smile Tonks left her room and headed for the Great Hall for the beginning of the year feast.

For some odd reason Tonks had always enjoyed the sorting. Maybe it the confidence the tiny first years seemed to gain after the hat was removed from their heads, but it reminded Tonks of herself. She too had been nervous, the most nervous she'd ever felt. Although both her parents were magical, she'd really never been involved in the wizarding world. Her mother's family had shunned her after she'd married her father, and her father was muggle-born. Right from the start Tonks had been a bit of an outcast, and for those few short moments at the beginning Tonks wasn't sure if she was okay with that or not. It wasn't until after the hat had yelled out Hufflepuff, she no longer felt unsure. She felt empowered.

That fond memory stayed with her throughout her years at Hogwarts and resurfaced every sorting, and now as she sat at the end of the table next to Hagrid with a small smile she was much too happy. All too soon the sorting was over and Dumbledore was addressing everyone. Almost automatically Tonks tuned it out and began looking through the faces trying to pick out familiar faces.

She'd spotted a few but a certain face made her do a double take. Sitting in the middle of the table surrounded by three other boys was Harry. How did Harry get here? How was this possible? She stared at him, her heart pounding until he looked over at her, sensing her gaze. Once his eyes met hers she realized it wasn't Harry, he didn't have those eyes. Now that she knew it wasn't Harry, she could easily pick out the differences between this boy and him. His glasses weren't the same, his hair was styled differently, and he didn't have a scar peeking out from underneath his hair.

Tonks couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from the look alike, even when he frowned at her obvious gaping. She watched as he leaned forward, sharing a few words with the boys he was sitting with without taking his eyes off of hers. She watched as one of the boys looked up at her with a smirk, his shaggy hair bouncing as his head moved. He blew her a kiss, and suddenly Tonks knew who these boys where. The flirty one had to be her cousin, Sirius, which would make the Harry look alike James Potter.

"-Ms. Nova Tank!" Her fake name rang through her ears as everyone began to clap. Tonks looked around, unsure of what was happening.

Hagrid whispered for her to stand, which she quickly did. Tonks stood awkwardly before the students of Hogwarts for what felt like forever until the clapping died down. She quickly flopped back down in her seat as soon as she could, earning a chuckle from her neighbor.

As Dumbledore turned back to his audience Tonks let her eyes wonder back over to the four boys. Sirius was muttering something to his friends which earned a laugh, and Tonks had a hunch that it was a joke at her expense. With a huff, Tonks let her eyes continue scanning the crowd, and again she caught a familiar face. Little Severus Snape sat across the room from the four laughing boys and was glaring heavily at them. He looked almost exactly as he did when Tonks had seen him last, if that was possible. He had obviously matured since he was a student, but he truly did like exactly the same. It was astonishing.

Tonks continued to watch him for a little longer until food appeared on her plate, distracting her. Pushing all the boys out of her mind she eagerly picked up a fork and dug in.

The night had passed by quickly, and before Tonks knew it she was lying in bed in her own room drifting off to sleep. It brought back memories of when she went to Hogwarts and she was thankful. She didn't know what she would've done if she hadn't had found Dumbledore. Surely she wouldn't be as relaxed as she was now, she almost felt as if she was at home.

Her last thought before she fell asleep was about her duty. She had taken a job, and was committed to do it. It was another thing added to her list. Protect the students from each other, and get home.

**_XXX_**

When the sun had fully risen and the entire grounds were covered in light. The last shadows disappearing from sight. Tonks felt at ease as she watched the last students scurry off to class. She definitely didn't miss the stress of being a student that was for sure.

She strolled through the halls of the school, suddenly hearing voices. They seemed giddy, and excited. Following them she had expected to find a few First or Second years skipping class but as she rounded the corner she was surprised to see four Seventh years peering over an object hidden between them. They hadn't noticed her approach until she cleared her throat.

"Ahem."

All four jumped in shock, the tallest hiding the object behind his back. The four look shocked to see her, as if they hadn't remembered that she now worked here.

"Why aren't you in class?" Tonks asked.

"Erm," the tallest stuttered.

"Well my dear lady," rang a silky voice of the boy with the darkest hair. "We don't have class at the moment, it's our free period."

"Oh?" Tonks responded. "Then what are you hiding?" She took a step closer, pointing at the tallest. "Certainly it's not a textbook."

"It's nothing," the tallest responded. Tonks took him in. His clothes were a bit worn, most likely second hand, but kept in excellent condition. His face held tiny, blearily noticeable scars, and eyes that looked much older than they really were.

"Then do you care to show me?"

The four boys looked between themselves and nodded. The tallest then handed then handed the object over to Tonks. She took it carefully, and looked at it. It was just a blank piece of parchment, but as Tonks turned it over in her hands she realized what it was.

Looking up at the four she noticed they seemed slightly smug, "may I have your names? For future reference?"

"Well of course," declared the boy with glasses, the Harry look alike. "James Potter." He said proudly.

"Sirius Black," the dark haired boy joined in. "At your service."

"Peter," the smallest said in a soft voice. "Pettigrew."

"And Remus Lupin," the tallest finished.

"And I take it you know who I am?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, you're Nova Tank, the head of security." James replied sassily.

"Nova Tank, however did you get lucky with that good of a name? I don't think it's real," Sirius commented. His words earned a glare from James.

Tonks almost froze up, but quickly responded. "No, course not. My real name is horrid, can't believe my mother named me something that bad."

"What? It can't be that bad." Peter asked.

"I know, no one can top Serverus. Am I right James?" Sirius said.

"Yep, nothing worse." James joined in. "Tell us, what is it?"

"That won't happen, I suggest you get on now. Prepare for you next class." Tonks declared.

"Okay, if you'll give us back our parchment." Remus asked, holding out his hand.

Tonks shook her head, "I think I'll keep it. I'm new here after all. I am in need some parchment. No one thought to give me any."

All their faces fell.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts," Tonks greeted as she turned and walked off. She didn't stop until she got into her office which was next to her room.

Quickly closing the door and charming it with a silencing spell she laid the parchment down on the table. She spread it out till it was flat before pulling her wand out. With a glance over her shoulder to check the door she whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The map showed itself, the ink appearing and showing the castle. Looking at her office on the map, she saw the boys all stationed outside her door. She smirked, these boys were smart and they're going to want their map back. She'd have to keep it with her if she wanted to keep it, and it would be useful to help keep the peace.

However, if she did keep the prized map she would be in for a hellish year. The four would not stop for anything when it came to the map. She would be able to work with much more ease with them on her side rather than against.

She bit her lip as she continued to look at the map, her eyes trailing over her own dot. Her breath caught at the sight of it, the sight of the name that stared back at her. Nymphadora Tonks.

She sighed and let her head fall into her hand. Great.

**_XXX_**

Tonks was leaving Gryffindor Tower later that day when she spotted Professor Dumbledore strolling down the corridor. As he came closer he spotted Tonks. "Ah, Ms. Tank adjusting to Hogwarts I hope?" He asked.

"Oh yes sir, its lovely here." Tonks replied truthfully.

Dumbledore motioned for her to walk with him. "And have you met any of the students?"

"Yes, Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James. They're quite the bunch." Tonks replied, keeping pace with the older man.

"Oh yes, the Marauders I believe they call themselves. They do have quite the personality, and they do give Minerva a hard time."

"I'd believe it," Tonks thought back on her time here at Hogwarts. She too gave McGonagall a hard time, but not nearly as bad as she gave Professor Sprout. More than once had the woman declared that she had better get her head on straight or she'd never get anywhere. Always the encouraging one, Pomona Sprout.

"I hope you like it here. I must say I've had trouble keeping the security position filled, mainly due to those four. The teachers aren't too keen on dealing with them." Dumbledore said.

"I think I can handle them." Tonks smirked. "Professor I have a question for you though."

The older man glanced over at her with a nod and Tonks continued on. "How familiar are you with time travel?"

With a frown Dumbledore responded. "It is not one of my strong suits, if you are interested on the topic I suggest you look in the library."

Tonks nodded, "Okay."

"Any reason behind this?"

"Uh, oh no. I'm just interested in the topic. Time Turners interest me."


	3. Chapter 3

**EDIT JULY 13**

When Tonks had first agreed to this job she had thought it would involve a lot of action, yet it was her fifth day at Hogwarts and she hadn't done a thing. She didn't know why she expected to actually have something to do the entire time, she had gone to Hogwarts and she knew how it was. It's rare that anyone would start a fight, or for any type of feud to happen. Sure, the school was full of kids but sadly most of them are well behaved.

Tonks sighed and pulled her feet up on her desk. She was bored, and if this was what she was going to do for the rest of the year she'd pull her hair out simply for something to do.

Staring out the window from her spot she could clearly see her reflection. Today her hair was a light shade of blue, but she had left her face untouched. When many people learned she was a Metamorphmgus they'd ask what about herself she always changed. They wouldn't understand that she liked her natural face, and very rarely changed it. Tonks didn't like hiding herself away and when she changed her face she felt like she was. It felt like a lie. Although, she never had a problem when she changed for fun.

Focusing on her reflection in the window, Tonks began to change her face. She let her nose grow impossibly long, so much that she couldn't repress a giggle. Next she focused on her eye brows, letting the hair grow longer than the hair on her head. Then she moved to her teeth, and soon those too matched her face, being humungous. She laughed at her appearance, it was ridiculous.

Her laughter was interrupted by a rapid knock on her office door. "Come in," she called pulling her legs off the desk and turning to face the door. A small student stood in the doorway, and as they spotted her disfigured face they shrunk back. "Yes?" Tonks asked.

They were silent for a moment before opening their mouth. "A-a fight," they stuttered. "In the dungeons."

Tonks let her face form back into its normal look as she shot up like a bullet. "Take me," she demanded. Finally, some action!

The small child quickly started running down the hall and Tonks hurriedly followed. For someone with such small legs, the kid was fast and soon they were approaching a group of students standing in a circle. They were all oddly silent, most fights that Tonks had been to all the students had been urging the fight on. Why were they all so quiet?

Tonks began to push her way through the students yelling, "Everybody move!" Finally stumbling into the circle she spotted the feuding teens. It was a large Slytherin matched against the tiny Severus Snape. "Stop!" Tonks shouted.

The big Slytherin ignored her and picked up Snape by the front of his robes before sending a fist at his face.

"Oi!" Tonks moved forward grabbing the back of Snape's robes and pulling him away from the larger boy. "What do you think you're doing?" She demanded as she stepped between the two.

The large Slytherin said nothing, never taking his eyes off of Snape, his glare cold and unforgiving. Finally he looked up at Tonks with the same glare. He then straightened his own robes before strutting off.

Once he had begun to leave the crowd seemed to lose interest and slowly disappeared. After most of the audience was gone Tonks turned to Snape.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked. She was a bit confused on what had happened, but that didn't stop her from checking on the poor boy in front of her.

The boy only glared, although his look was nowhere near the older boys in ferocity, mainly because of his swelling eye. "I'm fine," he spat.

Yet he clearly wasn't. His nose was obviously broken, it hardly even looked like a nose and the amount of blood that was dribbling out of it was enough to be worried. The other kid must've hit him several times before Tonks had arrived. Inspecting him further Tonks noticed that he was a bit hunched over and guarding his ribs like they were in pain.

"Let me help," Tonks offered stepping closer.

"No!" Snape snapped, shuffling backwards. His black hair fell into his eyes as he stared her down, giving him a more brooding look.

"It's ok," Tonks held her hand out. "At least let me fix your nose."

"I can do it myself," he sneered.

Tonks frowned, "then do it. I want to make sure you're okay."

Snape brushed his greasy hair out of his pale face as he grabbed his wand. Effortlessly he waved it and his nose morphed back into its proper form. He then gave Tonks a smirk, if she could even call it that. "May I go now?"

"Not yet," Tonks said. "Who was that boy?"

"I have no clue," Snape responded. Tonks immediately knew that was a lie, but she let it slide.

"Why was he beating you up?"

"Oh, just fun and games. It's a boy thing."

"Oh?"

"Yes," Snape sneered. "Are you done?"

Tonks ignored his question, "so a boy you don't know just randomly decided to beat you up?"

"Yes!" Snape snapped.

"That's a bit unlikely," Tonks stated.

"I know. Jeez Snivellus, come up with a better lie," called a cocky voice from behind Tonks.

Turning she spotted all four Marauders. "Butt out!" She called before turning back to Snape only to find no one there. Looking down the hallway she spotted his retreating form running away. With a groan she looked back at the four. "What are you doing here?" She asked rudely.

"Nothing, we just heard there was a fight." Sirius responded. "It seems we missed it though," he added disappointed.

"That didn't give you the permission to interrupt." Tonks declared.

"Interrupt what?" Remus asked.

"My conversation."

"What, you were having a conversation with Snivellus?" James asked with a laugh. "As if that's possible, he only talks to Slytherins. He wouldn't want his social status to be ruined by any half-bloods."

Tonks gave James an annoyed look.

"No offense of course," James added. "If you are half-blood."

Tonks sighed, "I don't have time to talk to you, and I have a job to do." She moved to leave when Sirius yelled for her to wait.

"We have something to say," he said seriously.

"What?" Tonks demanded more than asked.

"How about a less public setting?" Remus suggested looking at the few students that were still in the hallway from the fight.

Tonks nodded once then began down the corridor not even bothering to check that the trouble makers were following. She turned into an empty classroom and gestured the boys in. Closing the door behind her she then looked over the four. Sirius made himself comfortable on the teacher's desk, while James preferred the teacher's chair. Peter sat in the desk next to the one Remus had chosen to lean against. They all looked at ease, so she guessed that whatever they had to say wasn't too important.

Finally after what felt like hours of looking at each other James spoke up, "You returned the parchment."

"Yes." The night that she had taken the map from them she had returned it to their dorm while they'd been at dinner. It was better to have the Marauders on your side rather than against you, and with the map in her possession they'd be against her.

The room feel silent again. It seemed like the boys had more to ask, but we're holding it back.

"So," Tonks spoke to the entire group. "Anything else you wanted to tell me?"

"Why," Remus said almost immediately.

"Why what?" Tonks turned to him. She was taken aback at how young he was. How full of life he was. This wasn't the Remus she remembered. This wasn't the man that had pulled her off her feet and run with her through the Ministry.

"Why return it, the parchment?"

Tonks picked her words carefully, "I have no need for parchment."

Again the room grew silent.

"Anything else?"

"No," Sirius shook his head.

"Okay, then excuse me, I have to find a certain Slytherin." And with that Tonks left the four oddly quiet Marauders.

**_XXX_**

Tonks took a deep breath and stepped into the Great Hall. She made her way to Slytherin table swiftly and without a moment of hesitation. She wasn't afraid of the person she was about to confront, but she was a bit concerned that she wouldn't sound firm enough to be taken seriously. She pushed that thought out of her mind and came up to the large Slytherin, the one that had smacked Snape around earlier.

"Mr. Rood?" She said, getting his attention.

He looked up at her and grumpily put his fork down. His friends all looked at her with annoyed demeanor. "Yes?" He seethed.

"I'd like to speak with you," Tonks declared.

"So go ahead." Rood said.

"I'm private," Tonks clarified.

Rood looked at Tonks with a small glare before saying, "I'd rather not. I'm trying to eat if you don't mind." The girl next to him snickered at his refusal.

Tonks only brushed off his words, "Well that's fine, we'll just speak tonight at your detention. 7 o'clock, my office. Don't be late." Tonks then left without another word.

As soon as she'd left the Great Hall she breathed a sigh of relief over the fact that that had gone better than she'd expected.

**_XXX_**

"What do you think Remus?"

"Huh?" Remus looked up from his dinner, he hasn't been following the conversation between his friends.

"About Nova? What do you think?" James asked again.

"Oh, well, she seems new. I don't think she's ever had a job like this, working in a school." Remus said the first thing that came to mind.

"Yeah, she does seem that way." Sirius agreed.

"But the map," Peter commented. "She seemed to know what to do with that."

"Yes, why would she just give it back? That doesn't make much sense." James nodded.

The four boys sat at the back of Gryffindor table, secluded away from the rest of their house so they could talk in peace.

"She must know what it is," Sirius said. "Why else would she return it?"

The boys were stumped. Nova Tank was somebody that they didn't understand.

"Look," Peter said through a mouthful of food. "There she is!"

All four boys turned to see Nova strut into the Great Hall. They watched her turn towards Slytherin table and begin talking to Tyler Rood.

"She must've found out that he started the fight earlier," Remus commented.

"I wonder what she's going to do? Give him a warning?" Peter asked.

"No, she's not the type to give a warning. Not for fighting." James stated. "Probably a detention."

"What even is her job?" Sirius asked turned back to his food. "Why did Dumbledore hire her? Why is this year any different from last year? Why can't the teachers handle the students?"

"You know why Sirius," Remus said gravely. "It's the killings, Dumbledore is being cautious."

The group said one more thing as they watched Nova Tank leave the Great Hall.

"Let's keep a close eye on her."

**_XXX_**

Tonks was flipping through a Witch Weekly she had found in the hall when a knock sounded on the door of the detention room. Glancing at the clock she saw it was nearing 8. With a flick of her wand she opened the door to see Tyler Rood standing there.

"You're late," she stated slightly irritated.

Tyler only shrugged.

"You're detention hasn't even started and you've already earned yourself another one." This earned a glare, but Tonks shrugged it off. "I was only going to ask you a few questions, but it seems like you've made it harder for yourself."

Tyler was quiet for a moment before breaking the silence. "Ask away."

Tonks raised an eyebrow, "why beat up the kid?"

"He deserved it," Tyler stated.

"By doing what?"

"He has traitorous thoughts," Tyler said this with no emotion. His tone almost scary.

"How would you know his thoughts?"

"I don't need to read minds to know what a person is thinking."

Tonks was unsure of how to continue, was this just typical Slytherin feuding or was this something more? And his traitorous thoughts? What is that supposed to mean?

"Okay," Tonks nodded her head toward the cauldrons. "These need cleaning."

Tyler gave her one last glare before getting to work.

**_XXX_**

Time was something that Tonks seemed to be losing track of lately. It wasn't until Irma Prince, the librarian, approached her that she realized that she'd been in the library all night and the classes were going to begin soon.

"Time travel?" Madam Prince asked as she picked up a book out of the pile Tonks had gathered. "Why are you so interested in such an absurd topic?"

"Er, it's just, um, something I like to read about..." Tonk awkwardly replied.

Madam Prince turned her nose up, "be careful with my books." She said before disappearing behind a stack of books.

Tonks breathed a sigh of relief. She felt as if it was obvious that she wasn't from this time and sometimes became concerned that someone would notice.

She sat down and placed her forehead inside one of the books. It had been close to a month since Tonks had been sent to this time, and she was beginning to feel homesick. She just wanted to get home, she desperately missed her parents. She missed her job, her friends, she even missed her duties in the Order.

Tonks was letting herself drift off when she heard someone behind her. Quickly sitting up she began to explain herself to Madam Prince, "I'm not sleeping on the book. I swear, I was just getting close so I could read it better!"

Turning she saw that it wasn't Madam Prince but Remus and Peter. They both looked vaguely amused at her explanation.

"Already met Madam Prince?" Remus asked.

"Erm, yeah." Tonks quickly began putting the books away. Hopefully Remus wouldn't notice what they were about. "W-what are you two doing here so early?"

"Just returning a book," Remus said. "What do you have?" He asked picking up the nearest book, "The Effects of Time Travel?"

Tonks quickly snatched the book out of his hands.

"Time travel? Is that possible?" Peter asked.

"Yeah," Remus murmured. "But only with a time turner. Do you have one Nova?"

"N-no, that's impossible to get. The ministry wouldn't let anyone." Tonks replied. "Don't call me Nova, it's Tank."

Remus gave her an odd look and watched as she continued stuffing books back onto the self in front of her.

"If you're looking for a book on time travel I know the perfect one," Remus said. Tonks paused, he was offering to help her?

She looked over at him. He was very pale, and looked exhausted. It must be close to the full moon.

"Do you want it?"

"Er, yes." Tonks nodded.

"Wait here," Remus said. "I need your help Peter." He mumbled as he rushed off down another isle of books.

Why did he seem so eager to help her?

Soon the two boys came rushing back with a large book. With a smile Remus handed it to Tonks. It was old, and worn and Tonks was a bit skeptical.

"Twat?" She read the title out loud.

"It's an acronym," Peter said.

"Yeah, Time Travel With A Time Turner. TTWATT." Remus added.

"Thank you," Tonks said.

"You're welcome Tonks."

Tonks stilled at the use of her name. "What?" She breathed.

"I said, you're welcome Tank." Remus frowned.

"Oh," Tonks murmured. "I should go," she stated before quickly walking away. "T-thanks again."

Once she was out of sight Remus turned to Peter with a grin. "You were right, Nova Tank isn't her real name."

Peter shrugged, "the map never lies."


	4. Chapter 4

**EDIT JULY 13**

Tonks sat at the entrance of the school watching the teens roam about the grounds. The seasons were changing but it was still warm enough to relax outside. With a mild fascination Tonks watched the darkening sky, it was a beautiful light pink. Tonks stared at it deeply before squeezing her eyes shut changing her hair to the same color. A brisk chill shoot through her scalp and that let her know that the change had worked. Looking down she grabbed a chunk of hair that was hanging off her shoulder and noted happily that it was the very same pink as the sky. Twirling the strand between her fingers she thought about getting a haircut, her hair was quite long and it was much easier to cut it than to morph it every day.

She looked back down at the book on her lap. It was the one Remus had suggested, and it was surprisingly helpful. It was mainly time travelers themselves telling about their experiences. So far Tonks had only read two passages but both made her come to a realization, she really needed to be careful about what she did while in this time. Her actions here could majorly effect the future, or her present. Like for example, if she was too nice and encouraging to Peter perhaps he wouldn't betray the Potters in the coming years. His loyalty could throw off the entire balance of her time, if he didn't betray his friends He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named may never have been killed when Harry was a baby.

Tonks didn't like it, she didn't like how much power was in her hands. She could save James and Lily Potter with only a few actions, but in doing so she may condemn others. She didn't want to meddle in this time changing business, honestly she only really wanted to get home. Tonks sighed and closed her book, leaning back on one of the steps leading up to the gigantic doors of Hogwarts. She needed to distance herself from everyone. One small action may change everything, so she needed to be careful, only a few words to any person. She would still do her job, just continue on unnoticed.

"Whatcha doin?" Asked a curious voice from behind Tonks. Twisting around she spotted a first year sitting on top of the stone railing just behind her. "Sitting out here in the dark?"

Tonks turned back to the sky, and noticed that it was getting dark. She hadn't realized that she'd been sitting out here for so long, she had just let her mind wander.

"Erm, I didn't realize." Tonks admitted turning back to the little girl behind her.

The girl only nodded. Tonks couldn't help but to notice to innocence in her eyes. The light green went all the way to her heart and Tonks could only see light, it was breathtaking to look at.

"Do you happen to know where Professor Slughorn is holding his meeting?" She asked, "I checked his classroom and he wasn't there."

"I believe he's in the Great Hall," Tonks responded.

The little girl adjusted her large cloak and Tonks noticed the badger mole patch that hung off her shoulder.

"Thank you," she replied before turning on her heel and fishing off.

Tonks continued watching the young Hufflepuff run off with a bizarre feeling of déjà vu.

**_XXX_**

"I still don't know what you were thinking Albus. She is clearly not an Auror. I hope you want her to keep an eye on the students and not protect them if something happens."

"Something's may come to surprise you Minerva," Dumbledore said, clasping his hands over his stomach and sitting back in his chair.

McGonagall gave Dumbledore an exasperated look. "Albus, we both know what it happening outside this school. We cannot leave the safety of the students to someone who is practically a student herself!"

"Age is not a factor when it comes to ability Minerva." Dumbledore said calmly. "Even our youngest students come to amaze us."

"Yes, but Albus, would you have a seventh year up against Riddle?"

"That's not the same thing," Dumbledore argued. "Please, have faith in Miss Tank and myself. I believe is the best fit for this job, she will succeed in protecting the students."

McGonagall huffed and collapsed into a chair, "I have faith in you," she mumbled. "I just worry."

**_XXX_**

Tonks had long ago abandoned the steps in the front of the school and was wandering back up to her room. She rubbed an eye and stuck her book in her armpit so she could pull her hair up and out of her face.

Turning the corner, Tonks marveled at the darkening castle. Everyone may be asleep, but you could still feel the life that lived inside the castle. Magic seemed to be laced within every nook and cranny of the place, and it soothed Tonks. She was feeling a bit desperate about her circumstances right now.

A soft scuffle make her ear twitch and she paused. It didn't sound like a normal noise that the castle would make, it must be a student. Listening, Tonks tried to place where it was coming from.

In front of her.

Quickly and quietly she hurried to the source. Pausing once more to listen again before she rounded the corner. The setting sun provided very little light, but in the distance she found the cause of the scuffle. It was the four boys that seemed to be following her around.

They were moving really fast towards Tonks, but she couldn't imagine why. One of the boys seemed to be leaning against two boys while the remaining boy was pulling along a large bag. The scuffle noise was coming from the boy who was leaning on his friends, his feet dragging along behind him.

As they came close enough for Tonks to see their faces, she froze. Her heart stopped, and her mouth clamped shut.

James and Sirius where dragging an extremely pale Remus, while Peter was trailing along behind them. When they spotted Tonks in front of them, they too froze.

They all stood there staring at each other, and often a few moments Tonks realized they were waiting for her to say something. Yet she couldn't bring herself to say anything. Never before had she seen Remus looking so ill, it was like he could die at any passing moment. That thought chilled Tonks to the bone.

"W-why have we stopped?" Remus breathed, his voice was so weak that if Tonks hadn't been watching his lips she wouldn't have known that the words were being spoken and not from her own mind.

"Shh," Peter reached up and patted Remus' arm. Remus accepted his soothing pat and shut his eyes, letting his head fall forward onto Sirius' shoulder.

"Well?" Sirius demanded after another moment of silence.

"Er," Tonks didn't know what to do. Tonight must be the full moon, Remus would change tonight. Glancing out the window, Tonks noticed that it was nearly sun set. In fact, only a few moments from now would the sun be setting.

The light was dimming, and Tonks realized she had to act, and fast.

With a deep breath, Tonks quickly walked past the four boys and down the hall, not uttering a single word. She turned down another corridor and stopped. Leaning against the wall she listened for the boys.

They hesitated, but eventually James spoke up. "Come on! We don't have much time!" And then the scuffling continued, only this time much more rapid and desperate.

Even after they were long gone and the sun had set, Tonks was still leaning against the wall. She'd known that Remus was a werewolf just as long as she'd known him, but she'd never seen him during a full moon. Ever. Seeing him like that was different, like it affirmed the fact that he was a werewolf. It also made Tonks realize how serious it was, Remus could actually kill somebody. And she had let the three musketeers go out with him only moments away from his transformation.

Tonks cursed herself. She had been so caught up in the moment that the only thing she had been thinking about was that she needed to distance herself from everybody. She was a time traveler, but her job was just as important as not meddling with the past.

**_XXX_**

Tonks reached out to open the doors to the hospital wing when it opened for her and she came face to face with McGonagall. The older woman gave her an irritated look before walking down the hall, away from the infirmary. Tonks rolled her eyes before walking through the doors. The wing was empty except for one person. In the far corner, all by himself, was Remus Lupin.

Walking closer to his bed side, she watched the boy look at her wearily. Tonks sat down on the chair next to his bed without a word. Remus looked much better than he had the night before, but not by much. The sight of him looking a bit more human was reassuring to Tonks. She had spent the whole night debating on whether or not she should interfere with the marauders. By the time she had decided that she should help the boys it had been day break.

"They told me that we ran into you last night," Remus murmured looking at her with blurred eyes.

"You did."

Remus fell silent.

"Are you okay?" Tonks couldn't help asking.

Remus looked at her oddly, "Yes."

"Good, wouldn't want anyone hurt we would we?"

"Of course," Remus agreed bitterly.

"W-where are the others?" Tonks asked, aware of his mood.

Remus didn't answer her, instead he asked his own question. "What are you going to do?"

Tonks was stumped by his question, "Huh?"

"Are you going to petition to get me removed? Tell everyone what I am? What?" He spat out the last part angrily.

Tonks furrowed her brow, "I'm not going to do anything." She stated loudly. "I just wanted to know that you were okay."

Remus' face became stoic.

Tonks stood, "apparently you still have a bit of the moon with you right now so I'll just go." And with that, Tonks left Remus to his thoughts.

Mindlessly roaming the halls was a habit Tonks had developed over her years at Hogwarts, but it had never lead her anywhere worthwhile. Until today that is.

After her confrontation with Remus, which she had realized wasn't very professional of her considering that she was a part of the Hogwarts staff, she happened to stumble upon a heated conversation down near the dungeons.

"As if you care!" Spat a low voice.

"I do care, you're my brother." Declared another voice.

"Brothers don't do what you've done." The voice spat again.

The second voice sighed, "Reg." It pleaded, almost desperate.

"Don't call me that," growled the first voice.

Silence fell for a moment and Tonks wondered if perhaps they had walked away. She leaned against the wall, listening hard for any signs that they'd moved.

"I understand Reg, I'll leave you alone. Just," the voice paused. "If you need me I'm here, okay?"

"When would I ever need traitor like you?"

"Fair enough," the second voice said thickly. Footsteps began towards Tonks direction.

She began to panic, she couldn't be seen eavesdropping. Her eyes darted around, trying to find a place to hide. She spotted a tapestry and quickly jumped behind it. Peeking out so she could see the person walking past her breath caught. Sirius trudged past.

She felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness crash into her. Her cousin was trying to connect with his brother and he was denying it. It reminded her of how cruel that side of her family was. The pure bloods where unforgiving and heartless people, and she was glad she had never been involved with such affairs.

She desperately wanted to reach out and comfort Sirius, but she held herself back. She couldn't interfere with the past, she didn't want to ruin the future.

Tonks leaned back against the wall behind the tapestry and closed her eyes. Being here was going to be hard, she wasn't allowing herself to do anything she wanted. Standing by idly wasn't her nature.

"Oh great," Tonks muttered to herself.

**_XXX_**

Lily put the newspaper down and leaned back in her seat before staring into the fire. James took notice of her behavior and turned to her.

"Lily, what's wrong?"

"I-I'm," Lily stuttered. "James, I'm scared. A war is starting, I can feel it. It's not going to end well."

James shared a look with his three friends that had settled themselves around the fire in the common room. They all had the same look of understanding. They all knew what was coming, and they all had the same feeling Lily did. Turning back, James attempted to comfort her.

"I know, but you have us. We'll always be here, right guys?"

"Yeah."

"Course."

"Where else would we be?" The three spoke at the same time.

Lily gave them a small smile.

"Not that you need us anyway, I'm sure you could knock off this Voldemort by yourself." James shrugged and leaned back to wrap his arm around her. Lily rolled her eyes and leaned into James' arm.


	5. Chapter 5

**EDIT JULY 13**

_The sun warmed Tonks' back as she hurried to the green houses, she had to get there before Professor Sprout if she hoped to succeed. Silently slipping inside she was thankful that the room was empty and she calmly walked over to the pot sitting on the edge of the table. Peering inside, Tonks was satisfied with its contents and with a quick glance around the room she reached within the pocket of her robes and pulled out the jar she had been saving for this very moment. Ripping the lid off eagerly, Tonks proceeded to dump the slimy creatures from the jar inside the pot. She had just barely put the jar in back in her pocket when Sprout entered the room._

_The Professor gave her an untrustworthy look. "What are you doing here so early?" She asked._

_"Nothing Professor, just thought that I should get to class early today," Tonks shrugged._

_Sprout looked at her doubtfully, "Take your seat then. Away from my pot."_

_Tonks grinned at her head of house before finding a chair along the table and sitting down. By the time she had sat down a group of Ravenclaws entered the room, it wouldn't be long until class started._

_As more students entered the room Tonks happily watched her head of house cautiously approach the pot. Sprout knew the young Hufflepuff had done something to her pot, hardly a day went by when she didn't._

_"Sit down class, let's get started." Professor Sprout said without looking away from the pot. Everyone settled in around the table, and Tonks moved to the edge of her seat with anticipation. Out of all the pranks she pulled this year, this one had to be the best._

_Sprout stared into the pot for a moment before frowning. She quickly glanced up at Tonks who only smirked in response. The older woman then looked back into the pot. "Erm," she muttered. "T-today we will be readying pots for the new saplings."_

_Sprout had decided to continue on with the lesson because when she looked into her pot she had seen nothing but the plain old dirt. No snake, no odd bug, nothing that was usually placed there by a trouble making Nymphadora._

_"So we need to break up the dirt, it's best to use your hands. Don't be afraid of getting dirt under your nails, it comes with the experience. Now watch, like this-" Sprout dug her hand deep within the pot, and abruptly stopped talking. Her eyes bugged and her breath caught. With a shriek her yanked her hand out of the pot and stumbled back._

_Tonks began her giggles and some fellow students joined in, they were used to her pranks she played on her head of house and they had become an event many looked forward to. Except for the fellow Hufflepuff, Arnold, he was the only one that seemed to be truly against her shenanigans. Arnold shot Tonks a dirty look before leaning over Sprout's pot. He grasped it and flipped it over, pouring out its contents onto the table. Sprout, who was white as a ghost, staggered back before letting out a sigh. The dirt hit the table top and wiggling inside of it was a bunch of worms. They were normal, pink, slimy worms, ones that you can find at any wizarding or muggle store._

_Tonks snickered, "it's just some worms Professor. Don't you encounter them every day?" She asked innocently._

_Sprout pushed her hair out of her face, "see me after class."_

**_XXX_**

Tonks slowly opened her eyes and stared up at the top of her canopy. Her dream had brought back the fond memories of her teen years here at Hogwarts. It had also made her more homesick. She missed the simplicity of life, the fun she used to have, the innocence. But it was all gone, back home was the beginning of a war and here? It was no different.

She sat up and brushed a hand through her hair, messing it up even more than it already was. She sighed, then moved to get ready for the day.

She had been hardly dressed when a knock on the door interrupted her. Fastening her pants, she quickly moved to answer it. Throwing open the door she came face to face with the normally cross McGonagall, but this time instead of dislike on her face it was worry.

"Professor?" Tonks asked.

"Come quickly, a student's been attacked."

Tonks demeanor became serious, she turned back to grab her cloak hanging on the hook next to the door before following McGonagall down the corridor.

"What happened? When was it? Early this morning? Who? It wasn't a first year was it?" Tonks spat out in a rapid fire.

"Hush," McGonagall said over her shoulder.

Tonks rolled her eyes but complied and continued to quietly follow McGonagall to wherever they were going. Finally they approached the Infirmary.

"How badly hurt is this student?" Tonks couldn't help but to ask. McGonagall paused outside the doors and gave Tonks a long look. Tonks felt her insides clench up.

Without another word McGonagall opened the doors and lead Tonks inside to the far side of the room and in the almost exact spot Remus had been in, was a curtain. Tonks could see the shadow of three people behind it. Just before she walked past the curtain Tonks paused, she had to clear her mind. Taking a deep breath she let her Auror training kick in.

Stepping past the divider Tonks took in the faces of the people there. Dumbledore stood at the foot of the bed and had turned when both McGonagall and her had approached. Madam Pomfrey stood at the bedside of the student, holding a potion and had a grave look on her face. Sitting across from Pomfrey was a small redhead who had the injured student's hand clasped in hers. Tonks could hear the redhead's sniffles and felt her own composer waver, but quickly regained control. She had to remain professional, if she didn't have a calm demeanor then no one around her would either.

Finally Tonks laid eyes on the student they were all here for. It was a young girl, perhaps only a first or second year. The girl seemed to be asleep, yet she was deathly pale, which wasn't a good sign. To add to all that she seemed to be turning a deep red color. Her entire left arm was the odd color and Tonks was unsure of what exactly had happened to this girl.

"Will someone please fill me in?" Tonks asked in a hushed voice. She didn't know why she had spoken in such a quiet voice, she just felt like her normal volume was inappropriate.

"I'm afraid we don't really know," Dumbledore said causing a new wave of sniffles from the redhead.

"What do you mean?" Tonks asked.

"She was found early this morning, by the library, in this state. Someone has placed a curse on this poor girl and left her there." Dumbledore explained.

Tonks turned toward the young girl in the bed. She felt a heavy disgust for whomever did this to the girl. Leaving her after placing a possibly deadly curse on her, despicable. Turning her attention toward the redhead, Tonks leaned forward and placed her hand on the girls back. The redhead looked up, her red rimmed eyes caught Tonks' attention. Her eyes looked familiar, somehow.

"What's your name?" Tonks asked soothingly.

The girl whipped her eyes, "Lily." She huffed.

Lily Evans, Harry's mom!

"Can we talk? Only a few moments, and you can come straight back." Tonks bargained.

Lily sniffled and nodded, she let Tonks help her to her feet. They began for the door, but Tonks paused at the three Professors.

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this," she declared. "I swear."

Dumbledore's eye twinkled, though in happiness of Tonks' determination or in sorrow of the situation Tonks would never know. "I know you will."

**_XXX_**

"Thank you Tilly," Tonks said as she took the steaming mug from the house elf. "I'll call you over if we need anything else." The house elf, Tilly, beamed with happiness before leaving with a small bow.

Tonks had taken Lily to the kitchens, a place only a few students knew about so she was sure they wouldn't be interrupted. She leaned forward and placed the mug of hot chocolate in front of Lily's dreary companion. "Here, drink up." She said. "Chocolate makes things better."

Lily gave Tonks a doubtful look before reaching forward to take a sip. "Who are you again?" She asked after she had swallowed the smallest bit of her drink possible.

"T-tank, Nova Tank. I'm kind of the security." Tonks had almost said her real name and was thankful that her fake name started with the same letter as her real one. Again she had to give herself approval over such an awesome alibi.

Lily nodded, "so you wanted to ask me some things?"

"Yes," Tonks began. "So, how do you know her? The girl?"

Lily took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Shannon is muggleborn, like I am. Both of us along with a few other muggleborns have this club where we can…" she paused as she tried to think of a good way to explain it. "We understand each other, we're all new to this word and it's hard to go into it all alone." Lily let a few tears escape, "Shannon is the youngest, she doesn't deserve this."

Tonks patted lily's shoulder awkwardly. She had never been the best when it came to emotions, must've been a trait she got from her mentor, Mad Eye.

"Sorry," The younger girl huffed.

"No, no, it's fine. Cry all you need to." Tonks murmured. She then waited a bit until asking another question. "What house is Shannon in?"

"Ravenclaw," Lily said.

"Does she have any other friends outside your guy's club?"

"Yes, t-there's a girl named Olive and a boy named Mark. Both in her house." Lily looked up at Tonks. "You don't think they did this to her?"

"Doesn't hurt to check," Tonks avoided giving her opinion. She didn't want to let loose too much information even though she did trust Lily. That was one thing that had been engraved into her mind during her Auror training, avoid giving out any information.

Lily looked down into her mug sorrowfully. "May I go back now?"

"Two more questions and I'll let you go." Tonks responded. "Is there anyone that you think that would want to do this to Shannon?"

Lily shook her head.

"Okay, last question." Tonks stated. "When is your next meeting for your club?"

Lily frowned, "why would you want to know that?"

"I want to come," Tonks said. "Not only because of Shannon, but because I think that this club is a genius idea and I want to help in every way I can to keep it going." Tonks was being truthful, she truly thought that this club was something that should forever be a part of Hogwarts, and she also feared that perhaps some of its members would put the murders going on outside of the castle and the attack on Shannon together and become afraid. Afraid to be a part of this club, afraid to be themselves. She couldn't let that happen.

"Friday, 6 o'clock." Lily said.

"I'll be there."

**XXX**

Tonks was currently stalking the halls. She was angry, and frustrated. Mainly because of Shannon. The poor girl had yet to wake up and Madam Pomfrey still didn't know why. It wouldn't be long until Shannon was shipped off to St. Mungos.

It was now lunch, but Tonks hadn't yet eaten today. She was too preoccupied to think about anything else other than how she should move forward with helping Shannon. Maybe she should find the girl's friends next, perhaps they know anything. After that she will attend that meeting tomorrow night. But after that Tonks didn't know what else to do. Should she go through the records of detentions within the last month and see if anyone had been punished for any misuse of magic? Tonks groaned, the odds that that would work were slim.

Tonks paused, what was she doing exactly? Hadn't she told herself that she was going to stay out of the events of this time? That she would keep to herself until she could return home? She could be meddling in things that could be hindering her presence. Why did she let herself become involved?

Even though she kept asking herself why, she already knew the answer. She just couldn't let this slip by. She couldn't hide in her room until she found a way home, she wasn't the type to idly sit around. She had to be out there, doing something, helping someone. It was just her nature.

Tonks sighed, something she seemed to be doing a lot lately. She continued her stalking simply for something to do until she blindly ran into someone.

Stumbling back she said, "woah, sorry."

"No problem love, it happens." Her cousin replied, a light smirk on his lips.

Tonks felt an urge to roll her eyes but stopped herself. She looked at the group she had literally stumbled into and wondered why of all people it had to be this four.

"Are you not going to dinner?" Peter asked.

"Um, I've been a bit busy." Tonks handed out a lame excuse. She couldn't help but notice that Remus seemed to be avoiding her eye, and fought off another urge to roll her eyes.

"Is it Shannon?" James asked, "Lily has been worried about her. Have you found anything on who did it?"

Tonks looked at James and saw that he honestly wanted to know if she had made any progress. She decided to give him a simple answer, "no, not yet." That's when she got a brilliant idea. "If you guys see anything will you tell me? I need all the help I can get."

"Sure thing," Sirius sang. "We'll be like another set of eyes. Be sure to pop in anytime and we'll talk." He then gave her a wink.

Tonks gave her cousin an annoyed look, if only she could tell them that they were cousins maybe he wouldn't be such a flirt. But even that may not work. "Thank you guys."


	6. Chapter 6

**EDIT JULY 13**

_Tonks looked down upon her prodigies with a smirk on her face. They both looked back at her eagerly as they awaited their next set of instructions. Even though the two boys were only first years and she was a seventh year, they had become Tonks' closest friends and she wouldn't want it any other way._

_"Are you up to your next task?" Tonks asked._

_They both nodded with excitement, their long red hair bouncing._

_"Are you sure? This one is quite challenging," Tonks quipped._

_"Yes, we're sure," one said at the same time as the other said, "nothing is too challenging for us."_

_Tonks grinned at the twins before her, "alright then, off to find Peeves."_

_The first years nodded and followed after Tonks. After they had walked through a few corridors one of them spoke up. "Tonks, how are we going to get Peeves to work with us? You never explained that."_

_"Fred," Tonks began. "We have an amazing plan that's so unbelievably good that he would be stupid to turn us down."_

_"I don't think he'll listen. I think he'll just sound the alarm and throw his ghostly goo at us." George declared._

_"He doesn't have goo," Fred told his brother. "And why didn't you say this before? You know what Tonks always says!"_

_"I know, I know! Teams don't keep things of each other." George said._

_"Shh," Tonks hushed her team. "You'll get us all caught, talk quieter."_

_Tonks reached into her pocket to pull out the map and as she began to unfold it both twins called at the same time, "I wanna open it!"_

_Tonks gave them an annoyed look from both their volume and what they wanted. "I've got it." She declared. She pointed her wand at the map and murmured, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." As the ink began to appear she began searching for Peeves._

_"Here," George pointed to the dot this the name Peeves. "He's in the dungeons."_

_"Let's go," Tonks said and they hurried off. They had only made it to the end of the hall way when they came face to face with Filch._

_"Hey!" He yelled, "what are you doing out of bed?!"_

_"Run!" Tonks hollered._

_All three of them scrambled and darted off in different directions. They had a plan just in case they got caught, and they all had a route to run to get rid of the aging caretaker. That was the easy part, the only flaw in their brilliant plan was Ms. Norris. The pesky cat was the only one that was able to keep up with them and always seemed to lead Filch right to them. Fortunately, Ms. Norris was nowhere in sight. They all ran their routes beautifully and ended up in front of the library huffing and puffing. Tonks arrived last and was thankful that they had escaped so easily. The twins were new at Hogwarts and new at breaking the rules. If they had gotten caught Tonks feared they would never break any rules ever again. Oh what a horrid thought!_

_"That was close," Fred said once he had caught his breath._

_"Yeah," his brother agreed. "I didn't even hear him come up."_

_"Maybe we should call it a night," Tonks said. "Filch we still be looking for us and that's just too risky."_

_The twins looked disappointed but didn't argue, as a Seventh year Tonks was far older than they were and they let her make the decisions. As the unofficial leader of their trouble making group, Tonks made most of the calls._

_"Same time tomorrow?" Tonks asked._

_Perking up they nodded, "Don't be late Nymphadora" They said in unison as they began towards Gryffindor tower._

**_XXX_**

Tonks awoke with a distasteful feeling. She kept having these dreams and they were reminding her of the fun she used to have. She wanted nothing more than to go back to when things were peaceful, back when she would pull pranks with the Weasley twins. Those were the days, the days she longed for.

She had to stop, she couldn't keep on like this. Wishing for something that wasn't coming isn't healthy. Longing isn't how she wanted to feel. She had to stop.

No more. She wouldn't think of war, she wouldn't think of home. She would think of what was happening now, and right now she had two students to interview.

**_XXX_**

"It's Snape."

"Sirius," James began in a tired voice.

"No, James." Sirius pleaded. "Hear me out. Who is involved in dark magic in the castle? Who is really good at curses? Who is a Death Eater?"

"Snape's a Death Eater?" Peter asked with fright.

"No Peter, he's not." Remus muttered.

"Yes he is!" Sirius said. "Voldemort needs followers, and he has connections here. For all we know all of Slytherin house are Death Eaters!"

The Marauders sat up in their dorm room discussing the task Tank had given them. They had been making progress until Sirius brought up Severus. The topic of what Severus had been up to the past summer had been a topic Sirius had thoroughly exhausted for the past two months and the other three were growing tired of it.

"Sirius please," James sighed.

"Don't," Sirius shook his head. "Trust me, I lived with these kind of people for 15 years James! If Snape isn't already a death eater than he will be before the end of the year."

"Let's focus, please." James pleaded.

"We can't just ignore this, I _will_ be telling Nova." Sirius declared.

"She likes to be called Tank." Remus said from the window. Remus had been quiet the entire conversation, only adding a few comments here and there which was odd for him. His friends knew this and had been leaving him alone, the days after the full moon were often difficult for him, but that didn't stop them from being suspicious.

"That's not even her real name, why does it matter?" Sirius asked.

"It's the name she wants to go by for whatever reason, and if we start acting like we know it's not her real name she'll wonder why." Remus explained. "We have an advantage over her, we shouldn't let it go."

"Why do we need to have an advantage over her?" James asked. "She seems harmless."

Remus paused, "just in case," he finally said after a few minutes.

"Remus it doesn't matter that she knows about your furry little problem," Sirius said as he stood from his bed and walked over to Remus.

"She probably already knew," Peter suggested in a small voice. "She's a part of the staff and they all know."

"Yeah, what Pete said." Sirius agreed.

"Remus you don't need to worry," James added.

Remus looked away from the window and to the faces of his friends. They were all comforting and he was happy for that, but he still had this feeling. He knew they had to be right, but that feeling, it wasn't something he could ignore. "I know, but…"

"Don't worry about it," Sirius patted Remus' head. "You're a good boy, yes you are. Nothing's going to happen, no no no." He cooed.

Remus swatted his hand away, "I'm not the dog. _You_ are!" He tried to sound annoyed but he was really fighting off laughter.

"What, me? I'm… a dog?!" Sirius exclaimed. He turned to the other two, "Why was I never told?!"

"Mate, it wasn't something we could just tell you." James joined in.

"I… well, it explains a lot. No wonder I have this urge to chase my tail, and… Oh my god, tail, tail, tail, tail!" Sirius looked at his butt with wide eyes, before turning to Remus. Remus couldn't help but to laugh because he looked insane. Sirius then looked back at his butt and began to chase it. He barked and growled as he twirled. As he chased his behind he morphed into a real dog and continued to chase his tail.

"Okay, enough you guys. We need to help with finding Shannon's attacker." James said. "Lily's real shook up about this and we need to put an end to it."

The black dog stopped chasing his tail and looked at James. If it was possible, the dog seemed to frown at him before prancing forward and jumping on top of James. With a loud thunk, James hit the ground and the black dog began to lick him.

"Ah! Sirius! Stop it, that's gross!" He called. "Peter, get him off of me!"

"Nah," Peter said with a sly grin.

Before James could call out for anymore help Sirius stopped, he got off his friend and began to run around the dorm. He knocked over books, sent papers flying, and bumped into a mug filled with pumpkin juice. He jumped onto all the beds, pulled the blankets off, and threw pillows across the room. Soon the entire room was a wreck and Sirius came back to James who was still laying on the floor. No one had moved during Sirius' run, they had been too busy laughing.

Remus thought of himself lucky to have his friends, without them he didn't know what he would do.

**_XXX_**

Tonks had never been good at finding things, or people. That was one of the reasons she almost didn't make it as an Auror, well that and her clumsiness. So it was a miracle that she was able to find both Olive and Mark at the same time so fast. Within an hour Tonks had found them in the library and had sat down next to them.

"Hello," she said pleasantly. Both first years looked at her oddly so Tonks moved on, "I want to ask you some questions about Shannon."

The boy, Mark, froze. "We didn't do it, I swear! Shannon's a good friend of ours, we would never!"

"No, no, I don't think you did it. Relax." Tonks said.

Mark calmed down, he looked at his hands at bit embarrassed. Olive on the other hand did not, she looked at her friend with beady eyes before turning to Tonks, "Pardon him, he's been a bit paranoid lately."

"Oh it's fine." Tonks thought it was a bit odd how sharp Olive was. "So it's alright if I ask a few questions?"

"Go ahead," Olive said. She placed down her quill and folded her hands over her paper.

"How long have you known Shannon?" Tonks asked. She too folded her hands on top of the table and leveled her eyes with Olive. Something was up with this girl, and Tonks was going to get to the bottom of it.

"Both Mark and I met her this year, on the train." Olive said. She too leveled her eyes with Tonks.

"And you're aware that she's muggleborn right?"

"Yes, she told us. And her ignorance to all things magical made it obvious." Olive said matter of factly.

Tonks looked away from Olive to Mark. He still had his head down, but he was peeking up at the two of them. Once he caught Tonks' eye he immediately looked back down. This was odd behavior. "What about you Mark, did you know she was muggleborn?"

"Yes," he said quietly.

"And Mark can you think of anybody that dislikes Shannon? Or somebody that you think would've cursed her?"

Mark looked up at Olive, and they both shared a look. Finally Mark said, "no, nobody."

Olive too said, "She wasn't the type to make enemies, nobody I can think of would ever try to harm her."

They both were hiding something. Their behavior gave that much away. But why would they want to hide anything? What's the point of that? Certainly it wasn't the two of them that placed the curse of Shannon, the curse was way too complex for two First years.

"Okay, thank you. I'll come by later if I have any more questions." Tonks knew she wouldn't be able to get much more out of them today, so she might as well stop while she's ahead.

"Okay, we'll be here." Olive said, leveling her eyes with Tonks' again.

Staring deeply back Tonks knew this girl wasn't going to make things easier for her.

**_XXX_**

"Ah, Ms. Tank, just the person I need to see."

Tonks was sitting on the steps of the school once again. She came here to get a moment of fresh air before she headed off to the muggleborn club. "Professor Dumbledore," she greeted. "What is it that you wanted to see me about?"

Dumbledore moved forward and sat on the step next to her, "Well, your payment. You are an employed staff member and you do earn a monthly salary."

"Oh yes," honestly Tonks had forgotten that she was in fact getting paid. It was a pleasant reminder though, she'll be able to go to Hogmeade the next trip. That was always a joyful trip.

"How should I pay you? Through Gringotts?" Dumbledore asked nocking the thoughts of candy shops and butterbeer from Tonks' mind.

"Um, n-no. That wouldn't be, um…" Tonks had to quickly think of an excuse on why she wouldn't be paid through the Gringotts. Telling Dumbledore that she was a time traveler the reason she should give. At least at that moment. "Could I be paid directly?"

"I suppose I could do that." Dumbledore mused. "Any particular reason?"

"Um… my vault is connected with my Ex-Husband and if you put the money in there he'll have access to it." Tonks felt a bit busy for lying on the spot.

"I didn't know you had been married." Dumbledore commented with a raised eyebrow.

"It's not something I like to mention." Tonks forced out a shrug.

"I understand. Goodnight Ms. Tank."

"Goodnight Professor," Tonks nodded and watched the headmaster walk away not knowing that a certain group of four had been listening into the conversation from around the corner.


	7. Chapter 7

**EDIT JULY 14: Hi! I'm back again with another wave of edits. I've finished them all, so at this point chapters 1-14 are re-edited. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up but I will get to work on it and will be up soon! Please leave a review and a follow! ~abluenotebook**

Tonks was settled into the corner, ready to quietly listen to the teens around her. There were far less than she had pictured, only five students. She wondered if there had been more but had been scared away by Shannon's attacker. A glance at Lily confirmed her question, the young woman looked around the room in a disappointed manner only to sigh and let her eyes fall to the ground. She remained quiet for a moment before speaking up and catching their attention.

"Okay, let's call this meeting. What's first on the agenda?"

The room was silent, they just continued to look at Lily.

"What," she asked a bit flustered. "Nobody has anything?"

The five remained silent. Finally a third year stood. He was tall and skinny, with short blonde hair. He was dressed in muggle clothes underneath his Ravenclaw robes. For a moment he just stood there, as if he was contemplating if he should sit back down again or not. Finally he turned to Tonks, "why did she come?"

Tonks fidgeted as everyone turned to look at her. "Erm…" she mumbled."I wanted to see your club."

"Because of Shannon?" The boy asked.

Tonks didn't know how to respond, she hadn't expected them to be so forward with her. Luckily Lily cut in before Tonks said something stupid.

"Eddy, she's not here just because of Shannon-"

"Cut the crap Lily!" Called out the girl sitting next to Eddy. "When has anyone ever taken interest in us? How long has this club been going on, and how many teachers have taken an interest during that time?"

Lily was quiet, she looked at the girl for a moment before nodding. She then turned to Tonks, "The stage is yours."

When Tonks had decided to come to this meeting she hadn't expected it to turn out like this, she had expected to just be a fly on the wall for most of the meeting, but nevertheless she stood before the group. She took in the looks of the students, she could feel their anxiousness and worry. Shannon's attack had effected them more than she realized.

"I am here because of Shannon, I'm trying to find out who is behind her attack." Tonks paused, she felt their mood drop. Had they had been expecting more? "But I also want to help all of you."

"Sad that it took an attack to bring attention to us," remarked a large boy that sat on the other side Eddy.

"Yes, it is, and I'm sorry." Tonks replied. "But I'm here now, and I won't leave until you have the attention you all deserve." That was one thing Tonks had decided. Even if she was able to figure out a way home tomorrow, she couldn't leave just yet. She couldn't leave these teens, and if she changed her present, well, then so be it.

**_XXX_**

"Remus was right, we do need something to hold against her."

"No we don't," James told Sirius. "Calm yourself."

"I can't," Sirius huffed. "A time traveler! That's why she's hiding her real name." Sirius was pacing the isle in the library while Remus was set to work. James leaned against a set of books watching as Sirius would walk into their view and then disappear behind a set of books. His pacing was starting to get on his nerves.

"Yes, Sirius." James idly told his best friend mainly as a way just to shut him up.

"Filch," Peter whispered as he looked up from the map.

James was the one to take action, he cut the light off and shh'd Sirius. The four then stood in the dark for staring at the map. In the dim light they watched Filch's dot walk past the library and round the corner. It was only a few minutes until curfew and Filch would be all too happy to shoo them up to Gryffindor tower. As soon as they were sure he was gone James turned the lamp back on and Sirius resumed his pacing, Peter went back to the map, and Remus continued riffling through the books.

"She must be here for a reason," Sirius said. "Maybe she has a plan for Voldemort? Maybe this thing is a lot more serious than we think it is."

"You're over thinking things," James said with the roll of his eyes.

"I've found it!" Remus exclaimed. All the boys immediately stopped what they were doing and gathered around Remus. Pointing to the page Remus read off the information, "Nymphadora Tonks, half-blood, born 1973. That makes her about, four years old." Remus looked up at his friends for a moment.

"So she's definitely a time traveler." Sirius stated.

Remus nodded and turned back to the book. "Born to Andromeda and Edward Tonks-"

Sirius cut him off with a dramatic moan.

"What?" Peter asked.

"She's my cousin." He replied dramatically. "Andromeda ran off with this muggle-born guy and I haven't heard from her since. I didn't even know she had a kid."

"So you think we can still trust her?" Peter asked.

Sirius shrugged, "Andromeda was one of the few pure-bloods that didn't except the pure-blood way of life, and so one thing we can be sure of is that Nymphadora doesn't care for blood status."

"But why is she here?" Remus said as he turned away from the book.

"Guess we should find out." James stated with a slight smirk.

**_XXX_**

Tonks felt as if she hadn't accomplished anything, sure she had talked to a few people, but she didn't feel any closer to finding Shannon's attacker. Tonks sat in her office mindlessly tapping her fingers on her desk. What did she know?

Tonks reached forward and grabbed a scrap of paper, she needed to make a list of what she did know. Then, maybe she could figure out her next steps.

She picked up a quill and wrote down the first line.

_Muggle-born attacked, left to die._

Tonks nodded to herself and moved to write more.

_No known enemy's._

_Friends (Olive and Mark) suspicious._

_Muggle-born group supportive but know nothing._

_Muggle-born group needs to be monitored/helped._

It wasn't much, in fact it wasn't really anything at all. The only worthwhile information was that Olive and Mark know something and are refusing to tell. It was frustrating. Talking to the muggle-born group the night before had only added more things to the list of responsibilities. She had vowed that she would show up to every meeting, and help them gain members. Although it was a worthwhile trip, it didn't bring her any closer to the attacker like she'd hoped.

With a sigh she stood from her desk and walked to the window hoping to ease her mind. She watched as students walked through the grounds and down to Hogsmeade. Was it really so far into the year that it was time for the first Hogsmeade trip? Where had the time gone?

Tonks smiled to herself and rushed back to her desk, she opened a small compartment and pulled out a small bag with coins. It wasn't much, and perhaps would only get her a few sweets and a butterbeer, but it would do. She then grabbed her cloak and skipped out the door. She was off to Hogsmeade.

It had been years since she had fully enjoyed a Hogsmeade trip, but it was exactly a she remembered it. Students of all ages gathered in every corner, giggling girls and cheery guys. This was the one place on earth that was heaven for everyone.

As Tonks walked down the street, a small shop that she didn't recognize caught her eye. It was a bakery. Tonks looked at the shop, debating whether or not to go in, when her nose caught a wiff of the sweets from inside. Her feet made the decision for her and she marched in the bakery.

She stumbled along the rows of sweets lined up along the store until she reached the register. With a smile about two sizes too big, Tonks bought more sweets than she should have. Leaving with her pockets bulging, she spotted the four that seemed to be following her around heading straight towards her.

"Hey, Tank. Funny that we would meet you here." Sirius commented as he draped an arm over her shoulders.

"What are the odds," Tonks replied sarcastically as she unwrapped one of her sweets.

"We were on our way for some butterbeer, would you like to come?" James asked.

"No, not really."

"Well we were hoping to talk about Shannon." James added.

Tonks paused. She did want to find out more about Shannon, but she also was now low on funds. "Buy me a butterbeer?"

"Done." Sirius said as he began to lead her towards the Three Broomsticks. The five of them sat down in a corner and Peter agreed to get them all drinks. Once Tonks had taken a gulp she then turned towards the boys.

"So what do you got for me?" She asked.

"Snape," Sirius quickly spat out.

Tonks sighed, "Really? That's it?" Even though Snape was a shifty guy, she didn't think he pulled it off. In her time he was one of the most trusted people by Dumbledore and that was a hard place to be if you had attacked a student your seventh year.

"No, Sirius is just being Sirius." Remus stated. "And we wanted to talk about some other things first."

Tonks took another gulp of her drink, "go ahead."

"Who are you?" Remus leaned forward as he said it.

Tonks glanced at him, "Nova Tank, head of security."

"No." Remus leaned forward even more.

"Yes," Tonks responded by leaning forward also, placing her elbows on the table.

They were nearly nose to nose when he said, "then who is Nymphadora Tonks?"

Tonks leaned back and stiffened. "Nobody, why do you ask?"

"Because that's your name." James joined in.

"Said who?"

"The map." Remus said.

"What map?"

"The map you gave us?" Remus repeated slowly.

"A map gave you the name Nymphadora Tonks?" Tonks kept her face in a doubtful expression and she was thankful that she was good concealing her emotions, a trait she had learned from her mother.

"Yes, the map!"

"Who would name their child Nymphadora? That's an odd name, even for the wizarding world." Tonks was trying to talk her way out of this and so far it seemed to be working.

"Your parents, because that's your name." Remus pressed.

Tonks glanced at the other three and saw that they were eagerly listening, watching as the two bantered back and forth. "Was this all you wanted to do? Accuse me of being a person named Nymphadora? You must've misread your map."

"No, because Nymphadora exists, we checked. She's in the book, she'll get her letter when she turns 11." Remus stated. He gave a slight smirk as if he had finally proved that she was indeed who he thought she was.

"Then how is she me if she's younger than 11? Do I look like I'm under 11?"

"You're a time traveler!" Remus said happily.

Tonks paused, how the hell had he found out? "Why would you think that?" Her voice shook a bit when she spoke.

"You are secretive. You claim to have an Ex-Husband," Remus sat a bit straighter and smiled down at Tonks.

"Really? That's what you have?" Tonks spoke evenly, still trying to get her way out of this. "How do you know If I've been married or not? Have you looked into that too?" At her words Remus' smirk faded just a bit. "If I've been married or not, I don't see how that is any of your business."

Tonks looked at all four boys evenly, knowing that she had at least created a _bit_ of doubt in them. And that was all she needed, at least for now.

"Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?"

The boys shook their heads. Tonks nodded and stood, with one last gulp from her butterbeer she finished it off. "I'll see you later then."

**_XXX_**

It was nearing nightfall, and the last of the students had returned to the castle. Tonks was in the process of closing the doors when McGonagall approached her.

"Miss Tank," she said politely.

"McGonagall," Tonks nodded as the doors shut with a soft bang.

"Dumbledore is holding a meeting in his office and he wishes for you to be there," McGonagall said a bit crossly.

"A meeting?" Tonks asked. "It can't wait till the staff meeting tomorrow?"

McGonagall pursed her lips, "this is a private meeting, only for a few select staff members."

"Oh," Tonks didn't know how to respond. She certainly had never expected to be invited to a _private secret meeting_. "Okay."

"Come along," McGonagall said before marching off, and Tonks quickly hurried after. The short walk was awkward, her former teacher didn't say a single word the entire time. She couldn't figure out why she seemed to hate her, what reason would she have?

After they had reached the winding staircase, McGonagall led them to the door and still without another word opened it. Inside was a small group of Professors and a few others that Tonks didn't recognize. Whatever this meeting was for, it had to be important enough that Dumbledore would invite people to the school.

"Ah, McGonagall, Tank." Dumbledore greeted. "Great, now that we're all here we can start."

"Why have you called us here Dumbledore?" Croaked a voice from the corner. Tonks let her eyes drift over to the source of the voice and nearly gasped at who it belonged to. It was no other than Mad Eye Moody, the very person who led her through her Auror training. He looked the same as she remembered, scars crisscrossed his face, his hair a mess, and the obvious fake eye that twirled around unnaturally. As she continued to look at him she noticed something that she had never seen him with before, he had two legs! Whatever had caused him to lose a leg must've not happened yet.

"Well Moody," Dumbledore began catching Tonks' attention. "I'm here to talk to you all about Tom Riddle."

Mad Eye gave a board huff and rolled his real eye. A few others around the room gave similar reactions.

"I know that I've talked about this many times, but now it's different." Dumbledore spoke loudly, cutting off all the groans from around the room. "It has spread to the school, a student has been attacked."

The room fell silent. They all stared at Dumbledore with shocked faces, and solemn glances.

"We have to do something!"

"And what do you propose we do, Professor?" Moody asked a bit sarcastically.

"The Order of the Phoenix." Dumbledore stated. Tonks felt shock shoot through her body, she was here, at the very first meeting. Should she even be here? Is she ruining the time line?

"The what?" Moody croaked.

"Everyday people are being attacked and the Ministry is doing nothing. We need to do something, we need to act."

"Dumbledore," called out a soft voice. Tonks looked over and saw Slughorn. "I understand your need to help but… Dumbledore this is dangerous talk, and I'd prefer to… to keep to my teaching if you don't mind."

Dumbledore nodded, "Of course Horace, don't feel obliged to stay. And that goes to anyone here." Dumbledore looked a bit on edge, and that was a new look to Tonks. Never before had she seen the man as anything but entirely sure of himself and it was worrying.

Slughorn gave a nod to Dumbledore before quickly leaving. He was followed by a few others, just a few faces Tonks didn't recognize. By the time they had left only a handful of people remained. It was disappointing to Tonks, she hadn't know what to expect, but she had believed that more people would be willing to be involved.

"So the rest of you," Dumbledore continued. "I take it you're interested?"

"The Order of the Pheonix," commented a woman to Tonks' left. "What an odd name, did you come up with it by yourself Albus?"

Dumbledore gave a small smile, "well, I'd say Fawkes had a bit to do with it."

"Well, then what's first on the list?"


	8. Chapter 8

**EDIT JULY 14**

"You blew it!"

"Oh! _I _blew it? Shall we talk about your contributions?" Remus replied sourly.

"You did all the talking!" Sirius barked back.

"Oh my god," James muttered to himself.

The marauders found themselves up in their dorms after a long day in Hogsmeade. They had been bickering for over an hour about what had happened with Tonks and the conversation didn't seem like it would end any time soon.

"Yes I did all the talking, but only because no one else was willing to say anything!"

"Well congrats on the amazing job you did," Sirius said as he clapped sarcastically. Remus could only roll his eyes. "Now we've lost the element of surprise!" Sirius continued.

"Surprise? Really? That doesn't matter."

"Oh ho ho? It does too!"

"How much longer of this?" Peter sighed to James.

"Hopefully they'll get tired and fall asleep," James responded.

Peter gave a sorry laugh and shared a look with James. They both knew that the two wouldn't get tired, these were the pair that could keep a fight going an entire year. Sirius the drama queen would never stop pointing out mistakes, while Remus the 'I'm always right' couldn't leave the conversation without the last word.

"Well then, what do you suggest we do?" Remus huffed.

"I don't know, we're down a few options because of you."

"Okay!" James cut in. "Let's talk about our next few steps." Both Remus and Sirius gave James a dry look but stayed silent. "We have two things to accomplish. One, find Shannon's attacker-"

"We're still on about that? Why should we be helping the time traveler?" Sirius butt in with a wine.

"Shannon's still a classmate, she deserves better." Peter said.

Sirius pursed his lips and gave a sharp nod at Peter's words.

"And two," James continued with an appreciating glance toward Peter. "Get Tank to admit that's she's Tonks."

"Jesus," Sirius muttered. "How the hell are we going to do this?"

**_XXX_**

Tonks stood in the infirmary gloomily. Today was the day Shannon was being moved to St. Mungo's, and Tonks couldn't help but to feel like she'd failed. She knew that she really hadn't, but the fact that Shannon was leaving made everything seem much more serious.

"When are her parents arriving?" Dumbledore asked Madam Pomfrey.

"They're at the front gate," she said quietly. "Filch is bringing them up."

Tonks couldn't help but to think about how her poor parents must be feeling. They sent their child off to some magical school they'd never heard off, only to have her attacked. They must feel so helpless, so lost. They can't even see the school Shannon went to properly, all they see is a rundown building that they had sent their daughter to. Tonks couldn't imagine the guilt they must feel.

"Is everything set up for them?" Dumbledore asked the nurse from St. Mungo's.

"Yes, we have a ward for muggleborns. Her parents won't feel too out of place there." The nurse replied. "We also have groups for people in their position, they're not the only ones."

"Will you be able to… to cure her?" Tonks couldn't help but to ask.

The nurse grimaced like that was the exact question he'd been hoping to avoid. "We don't know what's wrong with her. Whatever curse she was hit with isn't something we've seen before."

Before Tonks could say anything else the doors burst open. Behind a somber looking Filch was a shaken looking couple. The woman was very tall and had equally long hair to match. She looked almost ill, and Tonks could tell that she hadn't been getting much sleep. The bags under her eyes almost matched her husbands except he was the one with tears rolling down his face. Comparing him to his wife, he was a small man with no hair but looked healthier than his companion.

As they drew nearer, the man began to lose himself. He only seemed to be moving because of his wife's grip on his hand. When they were finally able to see Shannon he completely lost it. His shrieks echoed around the infirmary as he scrambled over to Shannon's bedside. The woman stood still in shock, her eyes never leaving Shannon. Tonks desperately wanted to help but knew she would only make things worse, she had never been good with emotions.

"Mr. and Mrs. Everly, I'm terribly sorry we had to meet again in this way," Dumbledore spoke.

"Yes," Mrs. Everly said without looking away or moving at all.

"Shannon is being moved to the best hospital we have, and she will be in the hands of experts."

"What is being done?" Mrs. Everly asked. "What is being done with her attacker?"

"The culprit has yet to be found," Dumbledore said.

"What?"

"I'm on the case," Tonks spoke up. "I'll find him, I get closer every day."

"Well you better get closer," Mrs. Everly declared. "Or I will bring this to whatever government you freaks have. You will all lose your jobs. I can't believe you let something like this happen to my little baby. "

Tonks felt a sickening feeling grow in her stomach.

**_XXX_**

_"How could you?"_

_"I didn't mean to, please!"_

_"You left me, all alone. How could you do that to me Tonks?"_

_"Remus, please. I never meant to, I-I was being stupid."_

_"You left me, with Death Eaters just outside the door. I saved your life Nymphadora, and this is how you repay me?" Remus stared deeply into Tonks from his position on the floor of the closet._

_"I know, I'm sorry Remus, I'm so sorry." Tonks was beginning to cry._

_"I'm dead, I will be dead."_

_"No! You won't! I'm coming back Remus!"_

_"No you won't," Remus glanced behind him at the door. Just outside Tonks could hear footsteps and muffled voices. "You can't come back."_

_"I will! Remus!" Tonks was growing desperate now._

_"It's too late Nymphadora, it's too late."_

_The door behind Remus burst open and a green light filled the room. It engulfed everything, the bright light blinding Tonks. She could hear the screams of Remus and they echoed in her ears, bouncing like a ball around her skull._

Tonks sat up abruptly, panting and gasping. She looked around as she tightly grasped the bed sheet. She was in her room at Hogwarts and it all had been a dream. She wasn't in that closet in the Ministry with Remus. She wasn't being chased by Death Eaters. Remus was alive. It was just a bad dream.

Tonks kicked the sweaty sheets away and burrowed her head in her hands. Jesus, she had believed the dream was real, she was almost sure she had seen the death of Remus Lupin and it scared her. It shook her down to her very bones. Sitting up straight, Tonks took a couple deep breaths to try to calm herself down. It didn't seem to be working, her heart was still pounding. Without another thought she quickly jumped out of bed and rushed to the door. Grabbing a robe on the way, she left her room and started walking though the castle.

She didn't had a destination in mind, she just wanted some fresh air. As she walked through the castle she reasoned with herself. Remus was just fine, and he will be fine because Tonks will return to her time and nothing will have happened. No time will have passed and it'll be like she never left. It will all be fine, everyone will be fine.

After she had been walking for quite some time she heard a soft noise behind her. She paused, hoping to hear it better. It sounded like footsteps, but they had stopped as soon as she had stopped walking. She moved on, listening behind her. The footsteps continued, they seemed to be following her.

Tonks kept walking as she grabbed her wand from her pocket. There was an attacker in the castle, and maybe it was her lucky day. Quickly she turned and fired, "stupefy!" She heard a grunt and her stalker went flying. A few feet away she spotted him. Laying on his back with only his face showing out of some kind of invisibility blanket was no other than Remus Lupin.

"What the hell are you doing out of bed?" Tonks spat through her teeth. "Don't you know there's an attacker on the loose? I thought you were him! You lucky I didn't hit you with a worse curse!

Remus let out a groan in response to Tonks' anger. With a sigh Tonks waved her wand, letting Remus up. He sat up and gave Tonks a weary look before folding up the object that made him invisible.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Tonks asked.

"Nothing, I just couldn't sleep." Remus replied without looking up.

"No, that's why I'm out of bed. Why are you out of bed?"

"I already told you," Remus argued.

Tonks watched as he pulled out a piece of parchment from under the invisibility cloak. Before he could hide it Tonks snatched it from his hands. "You're out of bed because I'm out of bed," she accused.

"No."

Tonks looked down at the map a saw their two dots standing next to each other. Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin, how was she going to talk her way out of this one? He really did have proof of her real name.

"So you do know what the map is?" Remus asked.

"Excuse me?" Tonks asked.

"The map," Remus pointed to the map in her hand. "You do know what it is, and if you look closer you'll see that your name is Nymphadora Tonks."

Tonks glanced down at the map merely to give her more time to think of a way out of this. "Is this what gave you that foolish idea that I'm a time traveler? It must be wrong."

"The map is never wrong," Remus argued.

"I think I've had enough of this." Tonks declared. "I'm taking this." She waved the map above her head.

"What?"

"As it's the cause of all this, maybe I should take it for the time being. I hope you give your school work as much attention as you're giving me," Tonks was amazed with herself. How did she get herself out of this one?

"No, but-" Remus was at a loss for words.

"Come on, I'll lead you up to your dorm." Tonks turned and waved Remus on, urging him to follow. Reluctantly he obeyed and silently followed.

They had only taken a few steps when Tonks heard another sound. She paused, trying to hear were it was coming from.

"Why did you-" Remus began.

"Shh," Tonks held up her hand. "Did you hear that?"

They both stood still, listening. After a while of nothing but silence Tonks was beginning to think she had imagined the noise when she heard it again. She made eye contact with Remus and that confirmed it, someone else was out of bed.

"Go upstairs," she ordered Remus.

"No, I'm going with you."

"No, you're going to bed."

Remus rolled his eyes, "No, I'm going to help you."

"I'm an Auror, I don't need help."

"An extra wand never hurts," Remus shrugged.

Tonks sighed, "Nothing I say will make you leave will it?"

"No."

Tonks contemplated stunning him and coming back later but he did have a point, an extra wand never hurts. All she has to do is keep him alive. "Stay down, and keep quiet. If it comes to a fight you run for help. And if I get hurt you leave me, okay?"

Remus frowned and began to deny her requests when the noise sounded again, only this time closer.

"Say yes or I'll stun you." Tonks gripped his robes tightly for an answer.

"Okay, okay!"

Letting go of Remus, Tonks moved quickly toward the source of the noise. The closer she got the more clearer the noise became, and the voices.

"Hurry!" Whispered a voice.

"I am, he's heavy!" Another one responded.

The noise seemed to be something that was being dragged along the floor. Tonks turned back to Remus as she pulled out her wand. "Two," she breathed.

Remus took out his own wand, "I'll follow."

Tonks immediately shook her head. "Stay, only act if necessary. Okay?" Remus shook his head only to have Tonks nod. "Stay." She said again before turning back to the two before her. She took a deep breath before breaking into a run.

Her footsteps echoed and made her prey pause, which was exactly what she had been hoping for. What she hadn't been hoping for, or even thought of, was how dark it was. Even though she had the element of surprise, it didn't do her any good when she couldn't even see her targets.

Her spells bounced off the walls harmlessly as she heard them scatter, their footsteps just as loud as hers. She began to follow when her speedy pursuit was cut short by an object getting caught under her feet. She tripped and felt her forehead bash into the ground. She groaned and was caught off guard by the object that had tripped her groaned back.

"R-Remus!" She called as she shakily stood up.

Out of the darkness came Remus and one look at her got him going. "You should've let me help, you hurt yourself and they've gotten away. Where are you going? Tank! You're bleeding!" Remus continued to call after her even as she began running again. She had to find the attackers, she couldn't let her clumsiness get in the way of things even though her head was pounding.

Tonks picked up speed and rounded the corner, ignoring the pain it brought. She turned again, and again, and again, until finally she realized that she was just running through the halls. She had lost whoever she was following and there was no way she was going to find them tonight. Tonks slowed to a stop. Was she ever going to catch a break?

With her head pounding, she turned back. She needed to get back to Remus and whatever she had tripped over. What was it? Why had it groaned? Was it a student? That idea alone brought a new wave of fear and moved Tonks forward. Again she ignored the pain in her head and continued to stumble back. She hadn't realized how far she had run, but by the time she reached Remus it was nearly morning, sun was beginning to peak into the castle.

Tonks collapsed down next to Remus and was greeted with his worried tone. "Tank, thank god! Stay here, I need to get help!" Remus then jumped up and was soon out of sight.

"Wha?" Tonks asked the air. She was losing focus and everything was becoming blurry, the only thing she wanted right now was some sleep.

"Tank?" Called out a familiar voice.

"Yes?" Tonks breathed out.

"I know who it is, I know who did it. I know."

"Wha?" Tonks forced herself up and looked over at who was talking to her. What she saw took her breath away. It was one of the muggleborns she had met from Lily's club, Eddy. The third year was sprawled out on the floor looking exactly like Tonks felt. "Eddy!" She gasped and moved closer.

"I know, I know, I know, I know." He repeated.

"What happened Eddy?" Tonks tried to evaluated him but the pain in her head was too distracting.

"I know, I know, I know." With every phrase Eddy got quieter and quieter.

"Eddy," Tonks said. "Eddy don't."

"I know."


	9. Chapter 9

**EDIT JULY 14**

_"You need to think before you act Nymphadora!"_

_"I did Mad Eye!" Tonks seethed._

_"Obviously not very well," Mad Eye responded. "Try again!"_

_Tonks groaned loudly as Mad Eye paced behind her, his fake leg making a loud thunk with each step._

_"Three feet away are your targets, you're in the forest, hidden behind a bush. What's your first move?"_

_"Scan the area," Tonks stated immediately._

_"Good, then?"_

_Tonks leaned forward in her chair and placed her arms on the table in front in her, thinking deeply. "Move closer."_

_"NO!" Mad Eye barked. "With your track record one step would alert everyone in the entire forest!"_

_"What are you getting at?" Tonks angrily asked._

_"You can't take more than three steps without tripping over your own feet!"_

_"So what am I going to do then?!"_

_"You act without moving Tonks! You use that silly piece of wood that you've had since you were 11!" Mad Eye shouted._

_"Well then why does the book say to-"_

_"Forget the damn book! Nymphadora you can't follow the book because you can't move correctly, so you alter your actions! Get it?"_

_"Yes," Tonks kept her eyes down and away from Mad Eye feeling insulted._

_"Stop being embarrassed Tonks! If you want to be an Auror you need to learn to not be so easily insulted. Next!"_

_Tonks groaned._

**_XXX_**

Before Tonks had even opened her eyes she knew that nothing was alright. She had this odd feeling in her head, it started out small, a light feeling that surged through her that she almost forgot it was there. But that was until it started growing, the light feeling faded to a light thumping, to a pounding feeling that bounced around her skull painfully.

Why did she have this pain? Why wouldn't it go away? What the hell?

With an audible groan of displeasure she opened her eyes. Everything was painfully white and bright, where was she? Twisting her head to the side she spotted two people talking to each other not far from her bed. They looked slightly blurry and unfamiliar. Would they be able to calm the pounding in her head?

"Auuhg," Tonks opened her mouth to call out but the only thing that would come out was a soft groaning sound.

Both the blurry figures turned at her noise. "She's awake," one said.

"I'll get Dumbledore, give this to her, I trust you know how much?" Another said.

"Course, I've taken enough through the years." The first nodded to the other before they separated. The first voice began towards her while the other walked out of Tonks' view. She had no energy to turn and look at where they would be going, so she kept her eyes on the one advancing towards her. As this person came closer she noted happily that they were getting clearer, and with a cry of confusion she wondered why it was Remus.

"Dora, thank god you're okay." He said as he sat in the chair by her bed. "You hit your head really hard."

Tonks was in too much pain to correct his usage of Dora, so she let it slide. She watched quietly as he poured a clear substance into a small cup.

"Drink this, it'll help your head." He leaned forward and put the cup to her lips. Tonks disliked the fact that he hadn't even let her hold her own cup but quickly dismissed the feeling, she probably couldn't even hold the cup anyway. As she felt the drink slide down her throat she instantly felt better, the pounding faded to a light thumping making so much more bearable.

After a few moments of the newly found bliss, Tonks opened her mouth to speak. "What happened?"

"A lot," Remus responded.

"Then tell me," Tonks demanded in a low voice.

Remus hesitated, "Your head, I-I don't want to stress you out."

"Remus fucking Lupin, you tell me right now or I'll give you detention for the rest of the month."

Remus frowned but began to explain, "It was them, and they got Eddy. He's, well-" Remus looked over his shoulder and Tonks followed his gaze. A bed was hidden behind a sheet and Tonks knew exactly who was behind it.

"No," Tonks shook her head, "no, please tell me they didn't."

Remus could only nod and Tonks felt her eyes begin to prickle. A wave of sadness crashed over her and she did nothing to stop it, she let the wave come down and felt the water throw her about, some of the water even escaped a dripped down her face.

"Don't cry," Remus prodded. "It's not as bad, the curse or whatever it is, needs time to take over the body. You found Eddy before it had taken over. The Doctor from St. Mungo's was already here and she thinks that they can cure him, and then they'll be able to cure Shannon."

"Yeah but that doesn't stop the attackers," Tonks said gloomily. "What happens when they're back at Hogwarts all better but get attacked again? I'm horrid at this, why did I ever become an Auror?"

"You're not horrid," Remus disagreed.

Tonks gave him a dry look, "I had the map." She stated.

Remus frowned, "so?"

"One look at the bloody map and I'd know exactly who the attackers were. I didn't look at the map Remus."

"Oh."

Tonks covered her face with her hands and felt the thumping in her skull and wished that it was enough to block out the rest of the world.

"It'll be okay, I'll help you. The rest of the Marauders will too."

"Go away," Tonks murmured from behind her hands.

"What?"

"Leave the hospital wing Remus," Tonks stated more clearly.

"Dora…"

"Remus, you call me that one more time and I'll get out of this damn bed and-"

"Okay! I'll leave." Tonks heard him get up from the chair. "Get better," he said awkwardly. Tonks listened silently to his footsteps until she couldn't hear them anymore.

**_XXX_**

"I'm fine," Tonks argued.

"I think otherwise," Pomfrey argued back. "You need to stay here one more night."

"I don't see how a night in her own bed will hurt," Dumbledore chimed in.

"Albus," The nurse glared at the headmaster.

Tonks was sitting on the edge of her bed fully dressed and ready to leave. She'd spent a full day in the hospital wing and couldn't take another minuet of it. She'd wasted an entire day because of a concussion, and she couldn't afford another second.

"No Albus, she mustn't leave. She's suffered a severe blow to the head causing bleeding. I refuse to let her leave." Madam Pomfrey declared.

"Then how long must I stay here?" Tonks demanded.

"Until that bandage comes off," the nurse declared. Tonks felt like she was a student again, only this wasn't the hours after a Quidditch match and she didn't have her team standing around her bedside.

"I'm fine!" Tonks continued to argue. "I need to get back to work before the trail gets cold." Pomfrey shrugged at Tonks' words causing her to turn to Dumbledore, "Professor!"

"I'm sorry Miss Tank but it seems you'll need to spend another night here." Dumbledore explained, attempting to keep himself out of this fight but failing to keep the disappointed look off his face.

Pomfrey placed her hands on her hips and looked at Tonks smugly. "I suggest you change back into your gown Miss Tank."

"I don't need to stay another night, I'm perfectly fine."

"Nova," Pomfrey demanded obedience from the one word she spoke. "You have a severe concussion and bleed enough to make your hair red. You would've been hospitalized for days if you were in the muggle world, thank your lucky stars that you only need to be here for one more night."

"I feel fine."

"Well you're not, so good night."

**_XXX_**

"Hush!"

"Maybe we should come back later?"

"Why? People will be around later, now is the best time."

"Ow! You stepped on my toe."

Voices echoed around the room awaking Tonks from her restless sleep. She was asleep in her bed in the infirmary just like Pomfrey had instructed, and even though she hadn't wanted to be here in the first place she had assumed that she would've at least gotten some sleep seeing as there was nothing else for her to do. She was wrong.

"She's asleep, we should leave."

"No, we've come all this way!"

"Well, should we wait for her to wake up?"

"No point in that, I'm already awake." Tonks said to her intruders. "I thought I told you to leave Remus?" Tonks opened her eyes and turned her head to spot the four friends that had wormed their way into her presence.

"Well, I came back to help," Remus quickly explained as James pulled the invisibility cloak off them.

Tonks only glared at the teens. She was frustrated with Remus, yet she did need their help.

"Hey," Sirius stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We know Remus has this obsession with you." He paused and glanced back at Remus before leaning forward and whispering, "his crush on you is a bit concerning."

"What! I do not have a crush!" Remus shouted.

Tonks felt the pounding in her head resurface at the noise and quickly shh'ed him. "I don't have time for this nonsense right now." She complained.

"Oh but cousin dear, nonsense is what makes the world go round." Sirius smirked.

"I'm not your cousin." Tonks groaned. "And-"

"Hush, I thought you were done with nonsense?"

"Enough Sirius," James rolled his eyes, "can we get to the reason why we're here?"

Sirius let out a loud sigh before stepping back and sitting on the empty bed beside Tonks'.

"Thank you. So, we have a plan." James started. "Please let us get through it all before you judge it, okay?"

Tonks nodded moodily.

"Okay, Peter." James launched into his explanation. "Will be on map duty. He will always keep a close eye on it, looking for anything out of place." James patted Peter on the back before pointing towards Sirius. "Sirius will be the double agent, he will talk to everyone he sees, worm his way into common rooms, and in general try to find anything out."

Sirius wagged his eyebrows, "I can do more than worm my way in."

"Anyway," James said over his friend. "I will be with the muggleborns. If anyone threatens them then I'll be there to deal with it. If they feel unsafe then I'll deal with it. I'll be their body guard." James paused as if imagining his time as a body guard.

"Moving on," Remus added, trying to get James out of his momentary daydream.

"Yes," James nodded coming back to the real world. "Remus will be the researcher. He'll be the one trying to find out everything he can about the curse put on Eddy and Shannon. Maybe once we know more about it we'll be able to figure out exactly who is behind all this."

"And myself?" Tonks asked she was unsure exactly where this was all going.

"You're the mastermind, the bigwig, the heist leader."

Tonks nodded absentmindedly before responding, "Err, I appreciate that you came up with this plan but…"

"What?" James asked disappointed.

"This is real, this isn't some game. You guys can easily get hurt, just because this is happening at school doesn't mean its safe."

"We know." Sirius said.

"No you don't." Tonks sighed, she knew that whoever was behind the attacks had to belong to Voldemort, and she knew firsthand how dangerous it was to be connected to him. They could easily lose their lives helping her and she was already screwing up the time line so she didn't want to mess anything else up. "It's best if you keep a distance, I'll let you help but this plan can't happen."

The group looked at each other hesitantly.

"That's fine," Sirius said. Tonks raised her eyebrows, she hadn't expected for them to give up so easily.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, we understand if you don't want to be the boss. We don't need someone in charge, we can handle ourselves. It may be a bit harder but we'll manage." James shrugged.

"What?"

"We can still do our plan without you."

"Excuse me?" Tonks was outraged. They were willing to ignore her warning and continue on with this? "You can't! This is dangerous."

"We can handle ourselves." James said again.

In the far corner of the infirmary where Madam Pomfrey's room was, the light flickered on. "What's that noise?" Tonks heard her softly ask herself.

With a frantic look at the four students standing around her bed, Tonks watched them scramble under the cloak. With wide eyes she saw that it didn't cover them completely. Four pairs of legs stuck out from underneath, seemingly coming out of nowhere. Tonks had been about to tell them to find a better place to hide when Pomfrey was suddenly at her side.

"Are you okay? Why are you awake?" She asked.

"Um, I just couldn't sleep." Tonks fibbed.

"Were you talking to someone?" The nurse asked as she looked up.

"No!" Tonks shouted, attempting to get her gaze away from where the Marauders stood.

"Why are you yelling?" Pomfrey asked, annoyed.

"M-my head, it hurts a bit."

"You're worse than the students," Pomfrey told her as she turned to the bedside table. Tonks let her gaze travel to where the four stood. Like the dummy's they are, they still hadn't moved.

"Here," Tonks quickly looked back at Pomfrey. "Drink up." Tonks let the woman pour the cold medicine down her throat. "I gave you something for sleeping, so that'll kick in soon."

"Oh," Tonks said. She hadn't wanted to sleep, what she wanted was to argue with the teens until they understood the weight of the situation.

"I'm going back to bed, goodnight." The nurse said with a yawn as she walked away. Tonks watched silently and waited until she was out of sight and the light was off before turning to the four.

"You morons," she started. "This is why you shouldn't be involved, you couldn't even hide yourselves properly! I could see your legs for miles!"

They at least had the sense to look ashamed, which relaxed Tonks a bit.

"Then help us," Peter pleaded.

Tonks glared at them, "you shouldn't be doing anything that involves me helping you."

"Doesn't matter what you say, we'll still do it." Sirius said. "With or without you."

Tonks felt the sleeping medicine start to kick in. "No."

"Okay, we'll do it by ourselves then."

Tonks closed her heavy eyes and found that she couldn't open them again. "No." She mumbled.

"See you later Tonks," One of them said.

"No, fine."

"What?"

"I'll help," Tonks mumbled, and that was all she could get out before sleep captured her.


	10. Chapter 10

**EDIT JULY 14**

"So we need to move as soon as possible, APSA" James declared.

"ASAP," Remus corrected without a blink.

"Yes," James agreed whole heartedly, not realizing his mistake. "So we need to plan before we head out."

"We need to do more than plan," Tonks said from her desk in her office. She was hunched over and tired, though she refused to admit it. "You guys still don't understand the danger of all of this."

"Oh god, not this again," Sirius moaned.

Tonks shot her cousin a glare. She was still unhappy about their decision to interject themselves into her business, they may have good reasons to and she may need the help, but she still didn't agree. "I don't know how much you guys know, but a war is starting. This war is much more serious than you all realize and shouldn't be taken lightly. Everything that's happening here is connected to that war, you guys will graduate soon and then this war will be yours to handle." Tonks abruptly stopped talking, choking up a little. Yes this war will be theirs to handle, and they won't handle it well unfortunately.

"So how are we starting?" Remus asked.

"What?"

"If this war is ours to take care of, then how are we going to handle it?"

Tonks was at a loss for words, "Erm…"

"Teach us," Remus prodded. "You're an Auror, teach us."

**_XXX_**

It was nearly time for dinner and Tonks was almost to the Great Hall when Dumbledore intercepted her. "Miss Tank, good to see you out of bed."

"Oh, yes. Thank god Pomfrey let me out." Tonks honestly replied. She had been a bit afraid that the nurse would make her stay another night.

"Yes, yes," the Professor nodded, "while I have you here, do you mind if we speak in my office?"

Tonks had a feeling that's why he'd wanted to talk to her, but agreed anyhow. After they'd made their way to his office and the door had shut behind her, Dumbledore began. "I'm sure you remember Shannon's parents, they came in to see her not too long ago."

Tonk's mind jumped to the crying couple that threatened them, "yes."

"They've taken Shannon's condition to the Ministry."

"No," Tonks said in disbelief.

Dumbledore nodded as he leaned back against his desk, "at the moment the Ministry can't do anything because the sole cause of Shannon's condition is from another student. In the eyes of the Ministry the school can deal with unruly behavior, so they can't do anything, but if they can prove that Shannon was hurt by an outside source or by magic that a student is unable to create then we have a full blown investigation on our school."

"Meaning?" Tonks asked.

"When they are able to cure Eddy and Shannon, and they find that the magic that put them in their current state is more advanced magic that is taught at the school then it's possible the school will be closed." Dumbledore solemnly elaborated.

"No if, ands, or buts?" Tonks asked a bit shocked.

"If the culprit it found then there _may_ be an exception."

Tonks ran her fingers threw her short hair as she began to pace. An entire school, closed. That was hard to believe, had these events happened before she'd been transported to this time? What if she'd never shown up, would all this still have happened? Or was her being her what really messed up the time line? Oh god, when did this all become so complex? All she wanted to do was help.

"How long do you think we have?"

Dumbledore watched her pacing, his head moved from side to side following her movement. "Before Christmas." Dumbledore was quiet for a moment, "A cure will be found soon, and by the time Christmas comes the school will most likely be closed."

"Great, wonderful." Tonks muttered sarcastically. "Have you contacted the rest of the Order?"

"Yes, we have a meeting tonight."

"Great." Tonks nodded.

Dumbledore studied her a while and the two fell silent.

"I hear that the Marauders have taken a liking to you."

"Oh, yeah. They have."

"Have they been helping you?" Dumbledore asked out of curiosity.

"Yes, against my wishes."

Dumbledore nodded and the two were quiet again.

"Well, I should go then." Tonks stated and began heading for the door.

She had opened the door and was about the walk out when the Professor spoke again, "Invite the four tonight." Tonks bit back a groan and nodded before shutting the door behind her.

Reluctantly Tonks followed through on Dumbledore's wishes and stopped by the Marauders on her way through the Great Hall. All four looked up at her questioningly when she came to a stop at their table.

"Did you find something or are you here to snog Remus, because we all know the latter is bound to happen," Sirius asked.

Tonks ignored the comment and Remus choking on his food, "meet me here at 9 tonight."

"Why?" Peter asked timidly.

"Are you going to teach us?" Remus gasped, whipping tears out of his eyes.

"You'll see." Tonks shrugged off the questions.

"May I come?" Lily asked from beside James. "I am President of Muggleborns United." She added.

"Er…" Should she invite Lily? Would Dumbledore be mad? "Y-yeah?"

Lily nodded happily before turning back to her dinner.

Tonks muttered a goodbye before leaving, she wasn't looking forward to tonight.

**_XXX_**

James laid on his bed tossing a quaffle up as his friends focused on their own things. Peter was busy looking over his potions notes, occasionally letting out an agitated squeak. Sirius was playing with a deck of muggle cards, he had spent the last hour trying to learn how to shuffle but had so far only been able to send cards flying around the room. And Remus was organizing his side of the room, so far he'd folded his robes, made his bed, and was finally going through the pile of papers that has been stuffed into his bag from his various classes.

James paused in his quaffle throws to glance at the time. 7:47, time only seemed to be inching past, he wished it would finally be 9 so they could meet up with Tank and learn why she had invited them to be out of bed on a Thursday night.

"Stop looking at the clock, it'll only make the wait longer," Remus called out.

James sighed, "So you've been looking too?"

Remus didn't respond at first, but finally admitted the same.

"While we have time we should talk about something important," Sirius suggested and paused in his card shuffling, mainly because he didn't have any more and they were scattered around the room.

"What?" Peter asked, thankful for the distraction from his homework.

"Well, Moony and a certain time traveler." Sirius smirked.

"Arggg," Remus moaned and went back to organizing his bag.

"Oh no, I think this a great topic," James too smirked as he flopped over to his stomach at the bottom of his bed. He used the quaffle as a pillow and rested his chin against it.

"I don't agree," Remus muttered.

"Well we do," Sirius waved Remus' muttering away, "so tell us about her."

"I don't know any more than you do…"

"Yeah, but what you do know you like. Am I right?" Sirius prodded.

"I don't know," Remus muttered a bit flustered.

"Her hair is pretty good, a bit loud." James added.

"Unique," Peter agreed with a nod.

"Yeah, it's cool." Remus shrugged. "But that doesn't mean anything. I don't like her, she's not even our age guys, and she's practically a teacher."

"That must be it," Sirius decided.

"Yep," James chimed in.

"What?" Remus demanded. "What now? What did I say?"

Sirius smirked, "You got it right Peter?"

"Er… y-yeah." The small boy stuttered.

"What?" Remus said a bit louder.

Sirius continued to smirk and looked back at his partner in crime. James too was smirking and when the two made eye contact he nodded. Sirius then turned back to their lanky and confused friend. Standing, Sirius began towards Remus, "You." He started saying as he picked up a handful of cards. "And older women."

Remus stared at the shaggy boy not sure what to say. "Uh, no?"

"Don't deny this," Sirius chided. He tossed the cards into the air and watched with satisfaction as they fell onto a confused Remus. "You're into older women, the 'teacher'."

"Okay?" Remus asked. Tank wasn't that old and he wasn't sure why Sirius had picked that fact to pester him with.

Sirius' smirk faded, he was unhappy that his teasing seemed to be failing. Remus wasn't supposed to take this with confusion or acceptance, he was supposed to deny everything. Sirius stood over his friend fuming for a moment. "Why aren't you arguing with me?"

Remus looked up at his friend and shrugged, "maybe I'm just used to your taunts by now."

"No," James called. He sat up and slid off the bed. "You agree, you already accepted it. It's not just Sirius' taunts is it?"

Remus frowned, "no."

"Yes," Peter added, simply trying to stay in the conversation.

Remus looked at his friends quickly before checking the clock, "oh look! It's almost time to go, let's get ready. I'll go find Lily." Remus moved fast, he grabbed his wand and a cloak before scurrying out of the dorm room.

James and Sirius frowned at each other before both looking at the clock. It was only 8. With one look at Peter the three silently agreed, Remus had a crush. In fact it was more than a crush, he was so far in that he had already come to terms with everything, and he knew what he had taken to.

**_XXX_**

In the light of everything that had happened, Tonks was feeling angry. She was angry at herself, angry at this student that was attacking their classmates, angry at the parents that wanted to close the school. Her anger toward the parents was unjustified, but it didn't stop the anger. She knew that she too would be upset if her daughter had been sent off to a foreign school and had been put in a comatose like state. But still, their actions upset her. If she was unable to solve this attack the school would be closed and investigated. If the Ministry learned that she was working here when in fact she did not even exist, she could be imprisoned, or worse. If the school closed before she found a way home then she would forever be stuck here.

It was a stressful thought.

With a groan Tonks buried her face in her hands and leaned back on the stone wall beside the doors to the Great Hall. Her short pink hair fell over her hands as she groaned.

"Hey hot stuff," called a voice from down the hall.

Dropping her hands from her face, Tonks looked up to see the gang plus Lily walking towards her. Sirius, her cousin, was the cocky one that had called out to her.

"Wish I could say the same," Tonks remarked as she crossed her arms.

Sirius placed a hand over his heart as if in hurt. "What about Moony? Huh, huh?" He asked once he had finished his act.

Tonks ignored his comment, an action that she seemed to be doing a lot lately, and waved them on. "Let's go, we can't be late."

"Where are we going?" Peter asked.

"A meeting," Tonks said over her shoulder as she led the group of teens. "Dumbledore will explain."

"But-" James started but Tonks gave him a quick look over her shoulder before continuing on. Although it may be a good idea to get these group of kids on their side, Tonks didn't want that to happen. This was dangerous work and she didn't want them to face so much danger, yet it seemed that all her warnings where falling on deaf ears lately. Explaining the danger to this group was like beating a dead horse, there was no point.

All too soon Tonks was standing in Dumbledore's office beside the usually bitter McGonagall as Dumbledore explained the Order of the Phoenix. "You are all welcome to join, but you must be 17."

Remus sighed, "James and I don't turn 17 until after Christmas."

"You can't be directly connected to the Order then, but I'm sure we can figure something out." Dumbledore comforted the teen.

It was then at this point that McGonagall leaned over and whispered to Tonks, "Do you think this is a good idea?"

Tonks was momentarily shocked that the women herself had started a conversation with her, but quickly recovered. "Yes and no." She replied. "They're good students, they can do a lot for us, but… they are just students."

"Yes," McGonagall nodded. "You seem very close to them." She noted.

"Er, yeah." Tonks stuttered. "They've taken a liking to me."

McGonagall turned to look at Tonks. She looked heartbroken, and a bit teary eyed. "That's good, they'll listen to you. Please protect them, keep them safe." The Professor choked up a bit, her words becoming thick. "They're just kids and this is a war."

Tonks was shocked at the sudden emotion that was being shown by the older woman, but was glad. At least someone in this school agreed with her, understood the danger. "Of course, that's my number one priority. Keep them safe."

**_XXX_**

After the rest of the Order showed up the meeting started. It was a quick meeting and it was full of a lot a blame, particularly towards Tonks. This was because if she failed at her job the entire school would close. Just as she predicted everything was on her shoulders.

Dumbledore had of course thought of this and had developed a plan. He formed a team that would try to determine the cause of the curse that had been placed on Shannon and Eddy, and another team that would attempt to find leads for Tonks to follow. Tonks was overall doubtful that these teams would be able to help at all, but that may have just been the stress talking.

Other than that Tonks didn't pay much attention to anything being said. She knew she should, but she couldn't pull mind towards the people in front of her. She was exhausted, the effects of the concussion hitting her.

After the meeting Tonks was feeling tense which only added to her tiredness, but Dumbledore still wanted to talk to the group of teens so she forced herself to pull it together.

"May I suggest that you further your skills outside of the classroom? DADA is a good class but a little extra practice can be vital in the times we live in."

"Oh yeah, Nova mentioned that." Sirius said.

Tonks raised her eyebrow at the shaggy boy, she hadn't expected them to remember her saying that, or to even want it.

"Good, you should meet often. A lesson is always worthwhile." Dumbledore nodded. "Well that is all for now, until the next meeting, which I hope is not soon."

And with that said, Tonks led the gang from the room still feeling uneasy.


	11. Chapter 11

**EDIT JULY 14**

A week had passed since the meeting with the rest of the Order but in that time Tonks had been successful in avoiding the Marauders. In some part of her brain she thought that if she didn't see the group then somehow they would stay safe. She was still upset that they had been dragged into all this, but then she realized sometime during the week she spent hiding that eventually they will become involved in the war. They are in fact, the biggest supporters in the Order, or at least they will be. Because of this group of kids the war is forever changed. It was possible that Tonks could give them a leg up in this fight? Maybe instead of coming home to one dead Marauder and one turned traitor she could come home to all four? Although it was a risky change to the time line Tonks was willing to change it. Why shouldn't she? What possible harm could come from saving a life?

It was this thinking that brought her to the Gryffindor Common Room. She stood by the door looking for her students and ignoring the odd looks tossed her way by the other kids. Finally, after a few moments of blocking the door and receiving a few loud complaints, she spotted who she wanted. In the far corner, closest to the window sat Lily and James. The red head looking longingly out the window at the darkening skies while James sat beside her looking longingly at her. The two looked as if they'd been together for years instead of a few weeks, they just fit together so wonderfully. The way Lily held James' hand in her lap to the way he'd murmur to her and she'd give a soft giggle, it was the little things that made them.

Tonks stood still for a moment, wondering if she should bother the couple, but after a few more complaints from the students behind her she headed towards them.

When she was close enough she cleared her throat to catch their attention before speaking, "get the others, it's time."

James looked at her stupidly for a moment, "now?"

"Yes now," Tonks clarified.

James gave her a big smile before quickly hopping up and rushing off to the boys dorms. Lily turned to her and asked what the plan was.

"A lot," Tonks said. "You have a lot to learn."

**_XXX_**

"What is this?" Sirius asked slowly as he looked around the room with wonder.

"It's called the Room of Requirement," Tonks declared. "Dumbledore suggested it."

The room was large, perfect for what Tonks had in mind. Light peered in from the window that looked over the forest, which added a mysterious feel to the room.

Tonks stepped into the room and looked back at the teens that stood awe struck in the door way. With a frown Tonks spoke, "it's just a room. Get in here, we have a lot to do."

Sirius led them in, followed closely by James. "What first cuz'?"

Tonks took a deep breath, "pair up." Never before had Tonks taught anybody anything and she was a bit unsure about this. "Um… defense first. Protecting yourself is more important than anything. Better to come out alive having lost a fight, than dead and have won the fight."

"Dead but won?" Lily whispered silently to herself.

The others in the group seemed to silently agree on Tonks' confusing words as they shuffled into pairs. Tonks watched them, but her eyes zoned in on Sirius who seemed to be shuffling between partners. First he had turned to James, but paused and looked about the room at the others. He and James gave a nod to each other before separating. Sirius then turned to Lily, only to receive a pout from James. Tonks raised an eyebrow at the exasperated sigh the shaggy haired teen gave as he dragged his feet over to Peter only to pull him away from Remus. Remus frowned at his friend as he realized he was now partner less.

Before Sirius even opened his mouth Tonks knew what had happened.

"Aw shucks! Looks like Remus has to be your partner Nova, too bad there's an odd amount of us," Sirius called knowingly.

With her hands on her hips Tonks looked her cousin down. "I thought we were here to learn DADA, not force Remus onto me," she said in a calculating tone.

Sirius shrugged, "you said it not me. I'm here to learn."

Tonks ran her hand through her hair deciding to let it go. "Moving on…" she muttered."Let's refresh on what we know. Basic blocking spells, and _don't_ send anyone to Pomfrey. Please, I've had enough of that woman to last me the year."

The four nodded and faced their partners to begin firing spells at one another. Tonks watched them for a moment before facing Remus. She looked at him and noted that he looked tired, just a tired as she felt. "You want to start, or me?" She asked.

"I'll go," he murmured. He pulled his wand out and stood ready.

Tonks too readied herself before firing a silent spell. It was a simple jinx, an easy block, she hadn't wanted to start off too aggressive. Remus blocked it easily, the spell making a bright red glow as it faded.

"Good," she nodded before she fired another. Again he blocked it. After a few more spells Tonks picked up the pace. She fired one after another, giving Remus little time to prepare. Soon one got past and Remus froze in place. Tonks gave a small smile at his rigid form as she waved her wand again, unfreezing him. "That was good, I've seen worse." She noted as she turned to look at the rest of them.

James and Lily were rapidly sending spells at one another, both blocking them with skill that Tonks hadn't known they had. Peter and Sirius on the other hand looked much like two fourth years. Sirius was hopping between his two feet as he blocked spells the Peter had aimed at his feet.

"You can do better than that!" Sirius taunted.

"You can hardly handle this!" Peter jived back.

Tonks sighed at the two, maybe she should assign partners.

"Can we switch?" Called Remus behind her.

"Huh?" She said as she looked away from her pupils.

"Let's switch, I want to see how you do." Remus said. "You are a professional."

"Okay," she nodded. It could be good for them to see how she did it, she _was_ trained by the best.

As she faced Remus she knew by the sudden silence that the rest of them had turned to watch. Nerves crawled up into her gut. She was trained by the best, but there was no way that she was the best. Mad Eye's words entered her skull, something that he always would tell her. Use your mind never your body.

Standing straighter she hoped that she wouldn't fall on her face and that her performance would be worthwhile. And with that last thought Remus shot his first spell.

Without much thought she blocked the spell and watched as it bounced off to an empty corner of the room. Remus too watched the spell fade away, standing up straighter and lowering his wand.

"Come on Moony!" Whined a voice behind Tonks. "Keep going that was only one spell."

Remus' lips tightened at his friends words, but obeyed. Quickly he shot another spell which was blocked again, but this time he didn't stop to watch it fade away. He waved his wand rapidly, murmuring spells quietly. Tonks responded with the same amount of speed, furiously blocking each curse.

After a few spells Tonks heard someone behind her clapping happily and she dared to turn her head, her eyes had connected with the overly joyful ones of Sirius' when she realized her mistake. She had been distracted and with the speed that Remus was currently at, a mere moment could change everything. Snapping back into the duel Tonks spotted the spell zooming towards hers and lowered her wand, instead she dodged. Leaping out of the way she handed hard on the stone floor as pain shot through her knees. She wasted no time grimacing and raised her wand at Remus to prepare for the next spell, but it didn't come.

Remus was instead looking at the spot Tonks once stood with a slight smile, after a moment he turned to look at her, still with a stupid smile. Tonks frowned and looked back at what he had been looking at. Right behind where she had once stood was Peter, a giggling fitful Peter. He laid on the ground gasping for air between loud laughs.

"R-Remus!" He choked out, tears flowing down his face. "S-stop! R-Remus!"

Remus waved his wand, stopping the effects of the tickling charm. Peter lay still, gasping for air.

Tonks stood and rubbed her knees, "perhaps this can help make a point. Don't ever stand behind anyone while they're dueling."

"Noted," Peter wheezed.

"Okay, okay, enough of the basics." Sirius began. Behind him, James pulled Peter to his feet. "How about something a bit more complex?"

Tonks raised an eyebrow and folded her arms. "Oh?" She asked. "You want to learn something more complex?"

"Yes, I do." Sirius faced her, standing straight.

"What would be better? A simple spell that can help you out of any predicament, or a hard complex spell that only works for a few things?"

Sirius sighed, "Obviously the simple spell, _but _I really think this could be worthwhile."

"And it would be?"

"A Patronus charm," Sirius said hopefully.

Tonks' arms fell, "Patronus? That's extremely difficult magic, even I have a hard time with it."

"But," Lily spoke up. "Could you still teach us?"

"Erm…" Tonks stuttered.

"I think it'll be worthwhile," James prompted. "Can we at least try?"

Tonks glanced around at the hopeful faces around her knowing she couldn't deny this request. She heaved a sigh that hid a shiver, she wasn't the biggest fan of this charm. It was extremely complex and required a lot of focus or the spell wouldn't work properly. It also needed a happy memory, not that Tonks didn't have one, but these memories needed to have pure happiness, not just any old memory that Tonks thought was good. Finding memories was a tough task.

"Okay," Tonks began as she stepped back. The group perked up as they too stood back to give her room. "It all starts with a memory, a pure, good, happy memory. Use that as the basis of the charm, it's what fuels it. Once you've found one you say 'Expecto Patronum'." Tonks readied herself, quickly finding her go to memory before saying the spell aloud. A light began at the tip of her wand before a small jackrabbit appeared. It bounced out of the wand and pranced around protectively. The rabbit was made of a kind of vapor and was see through, but that didn't make it seem any less threatening. The way it moved about the room holding itself was a bit intimidating, and when it had come close to Lily she had quickly jumped back.

Tonks let the patronus fade away, she knew it was a weak casting and if Mad Eye had been here he would have surely dug her a new one about it. He would rant on about how they needed to be made off of a good memory and that you must keep up with wand motions if you ever hoped that the charm would last.

"That was great," Remus commented with a small smile. Sirius muttered something under his breath that Tonks missed but by the look on Remus' face he hadn't.

"Anyway!" Tonks stepped between the two, "practice makes perfect and you wanted to learn this Sirius so stop pestering Remus." Sirius smirked before walking off to a corner of the room to practice, he nodded at Peter as he strutted past and the small boy followed. And with that the group separated to begin practicing. Tonks watched them quietly from her spot for a moment before looking back at Remus, he stared off into the space before him deep in thought.

"You need help?" Tonks asked, stepping forward and leaning into his view.

He blinked a few times as he came out of his daze, "oh, yeah… I was just thinking of a memory."

"Have you got one?" Tonks asked.

"Y-yeah, I think so," Remus nodded. He didn't look so sure, but Tonks stood back anyway and gestured for him to start. The tall, lanky boy nodded again as he stood straighter and began to wave his wand. "Expecto Patronum," he murmured. A light mist came out of his wand and formed a small shield in front of him, but it only lasted a moment, all too soon it was gone.

Tonks stepped forward, "that was a good start." She smiled causing a small smile to come from him. "Work on that, try other memories, try the same memory. Practice makes perfect." Remus nodded absent mindedly, already raising his wand to try again.

Tonks moved on, looking at the other four in the room. Nobody seemed to be having the same amount of progress that Remus was making. It was mainly a lot of wand waving and nothing, much to their dismay. Tonks moved to Sirius first, mainly because the way he was shaking his wand about was a bit concerning and Tonks feared for the safety of the others in the room.

"Stop, stop," she said as she came closer, grabbing Sirius' wrist. "Small circular movements," she corrected, moving his wrist in the correct way.

Sirius snatched his arm out of her grip, "I got it, I got it!" He exclaimed.

Tonks stood back and admired the slight improvement the shaggy haired teen had made with a small smile. Although they were mostly a pain, and had caused more trouble than anything else, she found herself enjoying this, enjoying them.

**_XXX_**

Tonks sat cross legged on top of a desk in an empty classroom about a floor above the great hall. She was currently looking over lesson plans that she had made for the next time she would meet with the Marauders. Originally she had gone into the whole idea of teaching them with a negative attitude but now, now she was looking forward to each meeting. Now they would meet every Thursday just after diner.

After only a few moments Tonks was interrupted by two laughing buffoons that had wandered in through the door. Looking up, the blue haired Auror raised an eyebrow at the two, "really? You two can't manage yourselves long enough to avoid detention for more than a week?"

"Eh…" Sirius shrugged.

Tonks had been put in the rotation of leading detentions. On Tuesday's it was her duty to manage whoever had gotten caught in whatever mischief they had found themselves in. So far both Sirius and James had been her most frequent visitors.

"Well Remus and Peter would be joining us but sadly they had had a tighter grip on the invisibility cloak than we did." James sighed.

"And they are surprisingly fast, never would've thought…" Sirius added.

Tonks shook her head as she looked back at her paper work, "sign in," she said pointing to the blank sheet of paper next to her.

"I'm more interested in what you have," Sirius said as he attempted to lean closer and see what she was looking at.

"Hey," Tonks looked up and gave the boy a shove. "You have gum to scrape off, get to it."

Sirius pouted before turning to James who already had a scraping tool in his hand. Tonks rolled her eyes at the two and continued looking over her notes. The room fell silent, only the sound of gum being removed from desks and the quiet mutters of the two Marauders were heard until a small voice caused Tonks to look up. Standing in front of her was a small first year, the very first year that Tonks had met on one of her first days here.

"I'm here for detention," she chirped.

"What have you done that deserved a detention?" Tonks asked a bit shocked. When she had first met the small girl she thought that it was impossible for such innocence to do anything wrong.

The Hufflepuff shrugged, and muttered something about Professor Sprout and the green houses. Tonks nodded, pretending like she had heard every word the small child had said.

"Erm… sign in, and grab a scraper. Tonight we're getting rid of all the gum from the bottom of the desks."

"I'm allergic to gum!" Sirius called from the other side of the room.

Tonks ignored him, watching the girl write her name on the paper before grabbing a scraper and walking to a desk. Looking at the paper Tonks took note of the name scribbled below James and Sirius'. Margret Snazel. Tonks frowned, she had expected to recognize the name but she looking at it she realized that she had never heard it before. Sparing the girl another look Tonks wondered why the girl looked so familiar.

**_XXX_**

Halloween was often a forgotten holiday in Tonks' mind, for some reason the day never stuck with her, so when she showed up for diner the night after leading detention she was surprised to find the feast. She wasn't complaining, a Hogwarts feast was always something to accept eagerly.

She moved to her seat at the staff table in the front of the room, plopping down next to Hagrid who spared her a smile. "How are things Tank?" He asked.

"Could be worse, could be better," Tonks shrugged as she pulled some pumpkin juice closer.

Hagrid nodded and then leaned forward, "Dumbledore said you been teaching some of the students defense against dark arts?" He whispered.

Tonks glanced around before whispering back, "yeah." She didn't know why Hagrid was being so secretive about this, as far she knew it wasn't something to hide.

"Well, thank you," the giant nodded.

"W… why are you thanking me?" Tonks was confused, what did Hagrid have to thank her for?

"Fer teachen' them. They deserve to know how to protect themselves, and with the teacher they have now… Well, glad you came along."

Tonks frowned and leaned forward to look down the table. Her eyes found the DADA teacher who sat innocently eating away at his meal. "Professor Hern?" She asked. "What's wrong with him?"

Hagrid leaned back and picking up his fork he pushed his food around his plate, "I shouldn't be sayin' anything. Don't need to start nothin'." He muttered.

"Hagrid," Tonks pleaded, "Tell me, please."

Hagrid gave her a side eye before sighing, "Hern ain't the best at defense, let's put it at that."

"What do mean? He can't perform spells…"

"No-no he just fine at spells, it's the, eh… teaching part." Hagrid explained. "Students have been having a hard time learning from him. He moves too fast, talks in words they can't understand, things like that. And I've heard that the students don't understand why he's teaching some of the spells he's teaching."

Tonks nodded, following along. If they all had such a horrible DADA teacher, how did most of the students get by in the war? If she had never gone back to change the time line, would the Marauders be learning Patronus'? Would they be able to defend themselves? Was she really effecting the time line?

Tonks had a bad feeling, a feeling that always came when she thought of the time line that she was really messing up. But what could she do? Nothing really.

"Thanks Hagrid, I needed to know this." Tonks said.

"Er, course." The giant said, still playing with his food. "Happy Halloween," he murmured.

"Yeah, Halloween." Tonks said under her breath. She looked down at her empty plate, not really feeling like eating.

**_XXX_**

Tonks was up early, extremely early. When she had woken up she had wasted no time changing out of her pajamas and tossing them onto her bed. With the speed she was attempting to go at it had been a challenge to get her pants on without falling over, but she had accomplished it. And with a baggy sweater and a quick finger run through her hair she was out the door and on the prowl. Breakfast had only just started and Tonks could count on one hand all the times that she had been up this early in all her years at Hogwarts.

Stalking into the Great Hall she glanced up the staff table. Sitting alone, enjoying his eggs, was the man she was searching for. Professor Hern. She wasted no time marching up to him. She stopped momentarily, only the table separating them, but moved without hesitation. She leaned forward and grabbed the empty chair next to the man and pulled it over the table. Setting it down across from him, she sat in it and leaned against the table, crossing her arms.

"Professor." She greeted respectfully.

"Miss Nova Tank," the man replied, but Tonks noted a bit of bitterness in his words. "What can I do for our beloved Head of Security today?"

"I have just a few words to share with you. And a question or two." Tonks said, staring the balding man down. Looking at him now she realized that she had never really noticed this man before. He was plain, his balding and greying hair, his grey eyes, and even his clothes where plain. Just a plain sweater and scarf to match. It was an odd look, and Tonks knew that she would never have been able to live with it. She always preferred to stand out a bit.

"Well, go right ahead. And I suggest you make it fast, I have a class to get to." He said as he took a sip from his glass.

Tonks narrowed her eyes at the man, "I've heard that a few students have been having trouble in your class."

"Oh yes, first years mainly. Quite a few Hufflepuffs too, and the odd Gryffindor." He commented.

"I want to ask about your methods."

"Methods?" The man laughed. "My methods? Dear, I'm teaching the children in the only way they can learn."

"And that is?" Tonks pressed. The more the man said, the less she liked him.

"With the book," the man declared. "They must read about it, hear about it, and see it for it to be able to be processed."

Tonks bit her lip to stop from barking at the Professor. If she had been a student in the class that only did those three things she would've pull her hair out. They were so dull, so boring. How were any of the students getting by?

"May I suggest a few new methods? It seems for a few only reading, hearing, and seeing aren't enough." Tonks said, trying to be polite.

The man gave her a dull look, "please don't tell me how to teach my class, I doubt you could do better."

Tonks grit her teeth, "why would you say that?" She spat.

Hern sighed, "You look much too much like a student yourself. Blue hair that looks like it needs a brush and a sweater that was pulled off the floor?"

"I am a fully trained Auror, I am fully capable of teaching these kids to defend themselves. Which is something that is needed, right now, in these times." Tonks said in a low tone.

"These times?" Hern rolled his eyes. "What times? The impending war? That's just a bunch of paranoid rumors."

Tonks took a deep breath to calm herself, she wanted nothing more than to blow up on the ignorant man. Yell that a war was coming, and that thousands will end up dead. That this war will emotionally scar the ones that manage to live through it, but she held herself back. She'd only cause a scene.

"I see we don't see eye to eye," she declared.

"Perhaps," Hern nodded.

Tonks stood, sending the chair she was in flying backwards. Some students looked up, watching the two.

"Don't let any students fail your class." Tonks demanded, "They need to know this stuff, and if they don't…"

"Don't threaten me," the Professor narrowed his eyes.

Tonks turned without another word and stormed off, every eye in the Great Hall on her. She was nearly through the doors when the Marauders, who happened to be walking in, stopped her.

"Nova!" Sirius called through a yawn.

"We need to meet up," Remus said. "We have a few things to talk about."

"Great! So do I." Tonks said heatedly. "What's your first class?"

"W-well all have a free period this morning…" James responded.

"Good! Grab breakfast and meet me in my office!" Tonks ordered as she turned and marched off leaving the four in confusion.

**_XXX_**

"He's so stupid, and closed minded, foolish brat!" Tonks ranted. "I just… how did he get hired? Who let him in?"

"I dunno…" Sirius provided in between bites of his food.

"He straight out denied facts, a war _is_ coming, just saying that it's not real won't stop it from coming." Tonks paced.

"I know," Sirius said again.

The four had found space in Tonks' office to eat breakfast while they watched and listened to her rant on and on about the DADA Professor. Currently Sirius had managed to claim the desk. He sprawled all his food out on the desk, putting a croissant on top of some papers and a glass of milk haphazardly in the mist of quills and ink. Peter was the one who had taken to the floor near the door where he sat cross legged with his meal in front of him and balanced on his knee. James had originally fought with Sirius for the desk but had lost and was currently leaning against said desk attempting to make Sirius' milk tip over, but so far had only earned a cold look from Sirius. Remus had managed to find a chair in the corner, it was a chair that even Tonks had never known she had and had been hidden under a few cobwebs and dust bunnies.

Tonks on the other hand was the one angrily pacing the room, she hardly noticed the others or where they had placed themselves, so when James had successfully knocked the glass of milk onto the floor in front of Tonks' feet she had paused and stared at it confused. She gave the two a dry look before waving her wand to clean up the mess.

"But I didn't bring you guys here to rant to you," Tonks finally said.

"Oh?" Sirius remarked.

"No, I need you guys to do some work for me."

"Work?" Sirius complained.

"Yes," Tonks threw the boy an annoyed look. "Invite people tomorrow. Bring a first year, bring a fourth year. I don't care."

"What are you talking about?" Remus interjected.

"Tomorrow, when we meet in the Room of Requirement. Invite people, someone that's failing DADA, someone's whose passing, I don't care. More people the merrier. More people to learn how to defend themselves. This is important, can you do it?"

"Er, I don't see why not." James shrugged.

"Perfect, thank you." Tonks sighed, finally feeling relaxed. She looked over the four that had made themselves at home in her office. "Wasn't there something you guys wanted to talk about?"

"Oh yeah," Sirius exclaimed through a mouthful of bread. He eagerly chewed so he could talk but James jumped in.

"Our plan."

"Plan?" Tonks asked.

"The- Sirius is a worm, Remus is a researcher, James is the muggleborn protector and I'm the map watcher- plan." Peter spoke up from behind Tonks.

Turning, Tonks looked down at Peter. "You guys are still on that stupid plan?"

"It's a good plan!" Sirius yelled.

Tonks rolled her eyes, "whatever. So what did you want to talk about then?"

"Starting it," James said.

Tonks bit her lip as she thought, from this point on the only plan she had was improving the student's DADA skills. She honestly didn't know where to go on the Hogwarts attacker case. Would it really be any trouble if the Marauders went out to get more information? Dumbledore had sent out members of the Order to help out but so far they had been unable to do anything for her. Maybe this could be what she needed.

"Fine." She said, although it was a bit hesitant.

"What!" James exclaimed.

"You're really going to let us do this?" Remus asked.

"Why not, you guys are members of the Order. Well, at least two of you are." Tonks glanced at the under aged Remus and James. "And, well, to be honest I need all the help I can get. Just…just don't make me regret this, please. "

James jumped up, "Let's get started then! Peter, the map?"

"It's in the dorm."

"Let's get it. We have 40 minutes before our next class, we can start planning." James rushed around explaining the overall plan on what needed to be done in the little time they had now. Soon three of the four Marauders had rushed out of the office, leaving just Tonks and Remus alone.

The sudden silence was deafening, Tonks was a bit unsure of what to do. She glanced over at Remus who was still in his chair.

"Are you sure you can handle teaching a bunch of students at once?" He asked referring to her earlier demand of inviting students for her to teach.

Tonks' mind jumped to what Sirius had told her back in her own time, back home. He had said that Harry had started something called Dumbledore's Army, and that he was gathering students together to teach them because their current teacher was refusing to teach them anything worthwhile. She realized how similar that was to her current position, how strange.

"Well," if Harry was able to do it, why not her? "I think I can take it."

Remus nodded at her words, "Erm… well, if you ever need help just remember, it's not just you. I may not be as good as you are but… I can still help. James, Sirius, and Peter too. And I'm sure Lily of too." He stuttered over his words clumsily, and had turned a light pink color.

Tonks smiled, he was offering his help. Another thought caused Tonks' smile to freeze, was Sirius' teasing more than it seemed? Was Remus crushing on her? Looking over the boy Tonks saw the older Remus, the Remus that was much older than her, a Remus that knew far more than she did, and tried to imagine that Remus with a crush… on her. It was hard to believe. But when she changed the Remus to the Remus before her, the tall, lanky boy that was still in school, it was much easier to believe. It was just a school boy crush, something that is bound to pass. Something she shouldn't pay much attention to.

"Thank you, I'll probably need it."


	12. Chapter 12

**EDIT JULY 14**

It was a bit after lunch and Tonks was distracted by the way the clouds swirled about in the sky. She should've been focusing on what was in front of her, the extremely large book of rare curses with font that was a bit too small. She had agreed to help Remus with his research… well, she demanded rather than agreed to. She honestly didn't know what else to do in this case other than to go out and hound random students for info. It was a time like this that she wondered how she got herself into this position, or even if she could handle it. Was she good enough to be an Auror? She glanced around the room at the Marauders that had wormed themselves in on this Saturday afternoon. She had to be, she had to be good enough for them.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair accepting the fact that she had lost her focus. From the corner closest to the window James matched her sigh and met her eyes. He gave a half grin before looking out the window. Tonks followed his gaze over to the Quidditch field, it appeared to be filling up with people.

"Is there a game today?" Tonks asked, bringing everyone's attention to her.

"Yeah," Sirius nodded glumly from where he too was looking through a textbook. "Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

"And you guys aren't going?" Tonks frowned.

Nobody responded, they all shared a look before returning to their work. Finally Peter spoke up, but he never removed his eyes from the map before him. "We have more important things to do."

Tonks was taken aback, they were willing to skip a Quidditch match just to help her? They were this dedicated?

"I-er…" Tonks opened her mouth without any idea of what to say. "But…"

"It's okay," muttered Remus from beside her. He had pulled up a chair and was sharing her desk while he poured over his own textbook. "We're fine."

Tonks glanced at him, looking into his tired eyes. She noted that he looked a bit ill meaning that the full moon must be approaching. "No…" She couldn't let them stay here and skip the match. "This is your last year at Hogwarts, I mean how many more matches can you attend?"

"That depends how well James and I do in the playoffs," Sirius said to the floor.

"Well… go." Tonks declared.

"No, it's okay Tank." James shook his head. "Research is important, and Sirius and I need to come up with the plan to worm information out of students. This has to be done."

"Yes," Tonks nodded. She was trying to think of a way to get them to go to the match. "But I can do all of those things, I'm a perfectly capable Auror." She hoped. "So I'm kicking you out. Get out!"

"Wha?" James was stumped. "No really…"

"Get out!" Tonks stood and pointed at the door. When no one moved Tonks snatched Remus' book and aggressively slammed it closed. She then grabbed Remus by the arm and pulled him up before dragging him to the door. He was too shocked to fight and willingly let himself be forced out of the room. Once Tonks had him through the doorway she turned on the rest of the boys. "Do I have to force you out too?"

The remaining Marauders glanced at each other before slowly standing and leaving. The last thing she heard before closing the door was Sirius taunting Remus.

"Bet you liked being roughed about, huh Moony?"

After the Marauders had been shooed from her office Tonks had decided that she should get back to the monster textbook that was sprawled over her desk. Of course she had only powered through a page and a half when she was distracted again, this time it was the yells and cheers from the Quidditch pitch had been the culprits.

Tonks was itching to get to the match. Being from Hufflepuff, she knew the rivalry between her house and Ravenclaw, it was nearly as fierce as the one between Gryffindor and Slytherin. A match between any of those combinations was a match that was watched on the edge on your seat while screaming at the top of your lungs.

But Tonks knew she shouldn't go. She had more important things to do, she wasn't a student.

So after staring out of the window for a half an hour Tonks decided a walk would clear her head. Leaving the book she ignored the guilty feeling about abandoning her work that was growing and walked out the door. She let her feet take her anywhere they wanted to go, she had done that many times and it hadn't failed her yet. While walking she was desperately trying to think of what she would do next but her mind kept drifting.

Tonks stumbled and quickly grabbed onto the wall to stay upright. Her hand grabbed a painting instead of the wall, pulling it down with her. The painting was very unhappy about its sudden removal.

"_What are you doing girl?" _It barked.

Tonks laid on the ground and held the painting up above her, "sorry." She mumbled.

"Put me back!" It barked again.

Tonks quickly scrabbled to her feet and placed the painting back on the wall. The man in the painting was middle aged. He had graying hair, and a stiff posture that matched the sour look he was giving Tonks.

"Sorry," she said again, giving the painting a small shrug.

The man straightened his jacket and smoothed back what little hair he had left, continuing to give Tonks a stern look. "The children these days," he growled to himself.

Tonks eyed the man, "I'm not a child," she corrected quietly.

The man either didn't hear her or paid her no mind, he only continued to mutter to himself. "In my day… My, the things I've seen… Why can't I be left alone?"

Tonks had already began stalking off, a bit miffed, when his last words caught her attention._ The things he's seen._ That was it! The young Auror spun around (nearly falling over again) and gave the man in the painting a large grin. "That's it!" She squeaked.

The man gave her a cautious look and glanced around as if embarrassed to be speaking to someone as deranged as Tonks. Not that Tonks cared, she only continued to smile at the painting.

"Thank you!" She nodded. "I have to go," she finally squeaked out as she darted off.

Tonks was still pretty young, and with being an Auror her endurance was extremely important. Running was skill that Tonks hadn't taken to very well at first, but had grown to be good at. When she wasn't tripping over her own feet or anyone else's feet, she was the fastest in the office, a feat that she was very proud of. So in her lifetime Tonks had run fast, very fast, but she was sure that she'd never ran any faster than she was running right now. Tonks even began to wonder if her feet were even touching the ground. She was a woman on a mission, and this was no mission for walking.

When the painting had mentioned the 'thing's he'd seen' an idea popped in her head, and she was also kicking herself for not seeing it sooner. Paintings could see and hear therefore making them valid witnesses, it was possible that any one of them had seen had happened both nights when Shannon and Eddie were attacked.

Although Tonks wasn't sure exactly where Shannon had been attacked, this caused a slight tremor in her steps but she quickly recovered. Why didn't she know the spot? Wasn't that something she should know as the person in charge of finding the attacker? Tonks shook away the incoming thoughts as she skid to a stop in the very spot Remus and her had hid the night of the attack.

She paused, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Tonks pushed the distance she'd just ran out of her mind, and ignoring the dryness of her mouth she moved to investigating the scene. She squatted down against the wall, reenacting her own actions that night. With a quick glance around her at the walls nearby she spotted no paintings, just a few tapestries and the odd object that was hung up. Tonks stood, desperately trying to retrace her steps. As she neared the spot the she thought that she'd tripped over Eddie she heard a high pitched squeal.

Tonks' head snapped up and she was greeted with an entire wall of paintings. They were all talking amongst themselves, but they had all noticed her presence. The squeal, the main cause that Tonks had looked up, was a painting that was about even with Tonks' own height. It was a young girl that had made the noise and she looked like she was hardly even past her toddler years. She had short blonde hair that fell just above her shoulders, and dark brown eyes that stood out from her hair. The painting was only the top half of her body but Tonks could see that she was wearing a dress that was definitely not from this era.

"She came, just like you said!" She continued to squeak as she turned to the painting just above her.

Tonks followed the girls gaze, not interrupting the conversation. The painting above the girl was a much older woman, but she shared many similarities with the young girl below her. Her aged face looked very much like an older version of the girls, and their hair and eyes were almost exact copies. The older woman had noticed that Tonks was listening into the conversation and was currently eyeing Tonks with an uncertain eye.

"Yes, she has." The woman replied, making eye contact with Tonks. "I thought you would've come sooner though," she added, this time towards Tonks.

"Er…" Tonks stuttered over her words. She hadn't expected to be spoken to.

"That's fine though, better that you're here now." She finished.

"As if," commented a painting beside her. This painting was a full body painting that ended up being the size of both the young girl's painting and the woman above hers. The woman in this painting was younger than the woman, but definitely older than the small girl. Her hair was pulled up high on her head and she had a more modern look to her. "You've wasted this much time honey, better get on with it."

"Wha?" Tonks was a bit dumbfounded.

The full body portrait gave a dramatic sigh which earned a few exasperated looks from nearby paintings, before speaking. "I assume you're here to ask about the two that attacked that boy?"

"Er, yes." Tonks was finally able to spit out some words. "Could you tell me anything?"

"It was very dark," Tonks' attention was pulled to the young girl. She was nodding her head along with her words. "It was hard to see."

Tonks glanced at the other paintings, who all agreed with murmurs and nods. Tonks turned back to the young girl. "Did you see anything at all?" She asked kindly.

The girl nodded, "yes, yes!"

Tonks gave a halfhearted smile at the young girl. She was a bit too excited about all of this and it only added to her innocence. "So what happened?"

"They were dragging a boy on the floor," she stated.

"Can you tell me who?" Tonks prodded.

The girl nodded, "a boy and a girl!"

"They were older, perhaps sixth or seventh years." The painting above the young girl added. "Please excuse my sister, she's heard a lot about you and has taken to looking up to you."

"Er, thanks…" Tonks mumbled before asking another question, this time aimed more at the older paintings. "Did you catch what house?"

"You'd think Slytherin," the full body painting began. "But I think one was from Ravenclaw." At her words came whispers from other nearby paintings, they all talked rapidly either agreeing with the lady or angrily protesting. They all spoke too fast for Tonks to hear much of what was being said, but she did catch that most where protests.

Tonks was unsure whose side to take. In her experiences she had seen that evil could come from all over, just because you were placed in Gryffindor doesn't mean you can't commit a crime and vice versa. Not every Slytherin would take the chance to harm anyone. Although the stereotype was the opposite, people have a hard time believing that everyone but the snakes can do no wrong.

"Ignore them, she was in Ravenclaw." The lady declared.

Tonks nodded, mentally making a note. "What happened exactly? Can you explain how the three met, or…" Tonks trailed off as the woman in the painting above the young girl's face hardened. It seemed that everyone reacted to the sudden change in the conversation, all the other paintings quieted down and turned towards the woman.

"No, we can't tell you that I'm afraid." She said in a low voice.

Tonks was confused, why would they retain that piece of information? "Um, why not?"

The woman gave Tonks a hard look, a look that she seemed to be receiving a lot lately and mainly from paintings. "Because nothing happened here." The painting said heatedly. "All that happened was the two dragging the boy past us."

Tonks let out a disappointed sigh, right when she thought she was getting somewhere something had to stop her. "From which way did they come?"

The full body painting crossed her arms and nodded towards the left, "that way." She murmured.

"Thank you," Tonks nodded to all the paintings in farewell. "You've all helped so much." The young painting caught Tonks eye and gave her a dazzling grin in which Tonks returned as she headed to the left of the paintings.

**_XXX_**

"AHHHH, THAT WAS BRILLIANT!"

"AND FROM THE PUFFS!"

"I think they're too thrilled about this time off!" Peter yelled into the ear of Remus Lupin. Remus nodded to Peter despite the fact that he had only heard half the words because Hufflepuff had just scored.

All four Marauders were fans of Quidditch, but Remus and Peter were much calmer in their appreciation of the sport rather than the other two in the group. Both James and Sirius were known for their craziness during matches, the story of Sirius pitching himself onto the field just after Ravenclaw won the Cup from Slytherin in their fifth year was still a tale that was told each time Sirius parked himself in the bleachers.

So it was normal that two out of the four Marauders had already lost themselves in the match, and that the remaining would endure all the yells and screams from their friends, but today was a bit different. Today only one friend was enduring yells because the other was too lost in thought to respond to the chants.

It was only a half an hour into the match when Peter finally grew suspicious and pulled his lanky friend out of the crowd. Remus was extremely confused on why Peter would drag him away from the match when Ravenclaw was so close to scoring, but he followed the small boy anyway. Peter kept walking until the two of them stood just outside the field with the castle in view.

"Why'd you drag me out here Pete?" Remus asked when they came to a stop.

"Because you were acting strange and it was tripping me out," Peter admitted. "Normally when someone scores everyone jumps up and cheers, but you haven't moved one bit the entire match."

"Oh, er… I guess I wasn't paying attention." Remus gave Peter a shrug.

"What were you paying attention to?" Peter pried slyly.

Remus raised a brow at his friend, "nothing."

Peter too raised an eyebrow, but remained silent. He already had an idea of who Remus was thinking of, but he just wanted him to say her name. Finally Remus couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Fine, it was _her_ okay." Remus glared at Peter for a moment before sighing. "So much is happening. A first year attacked, and then Eddie… Plus there's this thing about her being a time traveler that hasn't been addressed yet. Like what the hell? And then school on top of all that, and then full moon is tomorrow night but Pete the only thing I can think about it how nice she looks with blue hair rather than pink hair. Like what?"

Peter hadn't expected the onslaught that poured out of Remus, he didn't know that all this had been on his mind and he had only been poking a grizzly bear. Peter raised both brows and said, "Didn't know you had this much on your mind." Then he fell silent for a moment. "It's not all bad though, she _is_ pretty."

Remus smiled and nodded, "yeah… but that only adds more to it Pete." The smile turned solemn and Peter bit back a groan.

"How?"

"I can list them."

Peter gave a snort, "go ahead." He dared.

Remus pursed his lips and listened to the cheers inside the stadium. Was he really going to sit here outside the match and give reasons to Peter on why it would be a bad idea to even think about Nova Tank or whatever her real name was? No, he wouldn't do such a thing.

"Well to start off the most obvious one, me being a werewolf." Remus began.

"Nah," Peter waved it off.

"Nah?" Remus asked. "What does that mean?"

"Dr. whats-his-name that you were going on and on about, didn't he just get married? That werewolf guy?"

"Dr. Wid?" Remus asked as Peter nodded. Dr. Wid was one of the very few known werewolves that had been accepted into the wizarding society and that was mainly because he was the son of a very gifted potion master. He had in fact recently gotten married and it was a huge news, especially in the werewolf community. It had given others the drive to want to be accepted, and it also opened the minds of some witches and wizards. "Doesn't change the fact that I am dangerous Pete."

Peter only continued to wave it off, "yeah, but she already knows so?"

"Knowledge doesn't mean safety," Remus shook his head.

"Knowledge is power," Peter countered.

Remus cut his eyes at his friend, "you're not proving anything."

"Really?" Peter dared. The chubby boy leaned back against a beam that shot up from the ground to support the stadium. Remus was a bit flustered, mainly because the boy looked too relaxed and at ease and they were talking about things that shouldn't spoken about in such tones. "Continue, next one."

"She's older than I am, and a teacher." Remus said looking Peter dead in the eye as if daring him to argue.

"We think she's a time traveler right, so she could be the same age as you." Peter started off.

"She's like a child right now Pete! I think that's worse than just a few years older than I am!" Remus exclaimed. "Oh god."

Peter continued on, pretending he hadn't heard Remus butt in. "And the time travel thing counters the teacher thing because why is she a time traveler and a teacher?" Peter paused for a moment, "We really should figure out why she traveled here."

"You're telling me," Remus sighed, running a hand through his hair.

The two fell silent before Peter gave him another nudge, "go on."

"Well the time travel thing," Remus said quietly. "Why is she here? Why this time out of all of them? How did she manage to get a time turner? How did she get it to move so far back in time? Time turners only move back a few hours at a time so how did she get here? But that also brings up the fact that's she must be here for a reason, so why? And if she's here for that then why would she bother with me? I'm just some stupid kid Pete, she's this amazing Auror… or at least she says." Remus rambled on for a bit before trailing off. "She's still pretty amazing, Auror or not."

"Amazing in what ways?" Peter prodded with a smile. He knew Remus would be likely to continue to ramble if he added to the conversation just a bit. He seemed to be in that sort of mood.

"Amazing? Well it's easy to see. The grace she has when preforming spells, it's like she doesn't even have to think. How do you preform spells without thinking? And she didn't even have to say them out loud, that's _skill_ and… Then she's got that Metamorphagus abilities, she can do anything she want's with her appearance. It may be a hereditary thing but that's amazing! How do you control such a thing? And she does it with such ease. I'm almost jealous. Then you can add on to that and say she's extremely independent, she's constantly barking at us to stay out of her business, mainly because of the danger, but still. You know when I visited her in the hospital wing? She threatened me for information, and even before that she was bossing me around when we heard the attackers in the hall. She can handle everything on her own, and she knows that. And she's too kind, way too kind. If I was her and some kids were bugging me I would've already told them to fuck off, but she really just groans at us. I mean she could put her foot down and demand we stay away, that may even be the best and safest thing to do but she lets us help, I think it's because she knows that this case is a bit too much for one person. Then coming back to the danger part, I mean she created a club just to help us learn to defend ourselves. That's not really part of her job but she does it anyway, plus she wants us to keep inviting people to every meeting because the more people that have this knowledge them more ready we all are I guess. And…" Remus trailed off, realizing what he was doing.

"I don't think this is something you just brush off Moony," Peter said with a bit of a sad smile. "Time traveler, older, younger, teacher, in danger, whatever you want to call it, doesn't really matter. I think you may be in love."

**_XXX_**

Tonks was hurrying around the halls, rushing through her words and only giving the paintings a few seconds to respond. Many paintings in the castle would do anything to talk to you, they all craved conversation, but Tonks didn't have time nor the will to talk to anyone of them.

"The attack?" She'd ask as she scurried past. "Anyone see the attack?"

She was met with many "What?"s and "No?"s with the occasional "What are you on about?" So far so was unsuccessful and just about to give up when she collided with another person. Stumbling back she looked down at the student she'd knocked over.

"Oh, sorry. Wasn't looking," Tonks rushed out. She leaning forward, offering a hand to the boy. He was maybe a sixth year and from Ravenclaw.

"S'okay," he mumbled as Tonks pulled him to his feet.

"Okay, I gotta go." Tonks said dropping her hand from his and looking about the paintings.

Tonks had already past the boy and was calling out when she heard him holler after her, "This isn't going to work!"

The young Auror paused and turned back to the kid, "And why not?" She dared.

"Paintings don't take to being yelled at very well," he explained. "Most of them are as old as the school, they're more reserved and quiet."

Tonks stared the blonde down thinking, he was probably right. Talking to paintings was a definite skill. Stupid Ravenclaw…

"Then what do you suggest?" Tonks demanded.

The boy shrugged, "being kinder?"

Tonks couldn't help but to roll her eyes at the childish answer. She didn't have the time to be kind, she had more important things to do than to sweet talk a 100 plus year old painting.

The boy caught her look and gave her a dry look. He turned to the nearest painting, "Did you happen to see anything the night a boy was attacked? It's really important."

The man in the painting looked delighted that he was being spoken to and replied eagerly, "sadly no, I didn't see much. Just that it was two people, a boy and a girl."

The Ravenclaw gave Tonks a smirk, to switch Tonks only rolled her eyes once more. "Do you know any other painting that would know?" The boy asked.

"Actually, Sal has been saying things. I'd talk to him." The man nodded.

Tonks drew closer, "Where would he be?"

The painting frowned at Tonks in dislike before curtly saying, "By the kitchens."

"Thank you! So much!" Tonks said as she spun on her heels and headed off towards the kitchens.

"Hey! What about me?" The Ravenclaw called after her.

"Ten points to your house!" Tonks called over her shoulder.

**_XXX_**

After Remus had forced Peter to remain quiet about his ramblings, the two had returned to the match. James and Sirius had noticed their absence, but while James had only spared an odd look Sirius had been the one to ask Remus if he was 'cheating on Tank with Pete because you were gone for quite a long time and your hair is a right mess.' Remus only shook his head at Sirius, not that the boy had noticed because he had already turned back to the match.

After a few moments Sirius spoke again, "it was getting real interesting but now that the Puffs are 200 ahead I think it's all over." He looked at his friends, "let's blow this joint."

"Right behind ya," James nodded with a yawn and a stretch as if emphasizing that he had grown bored.

As the four walked out of the stadium James wondered aloud, "do you think Tank will be mad if we show up at her office?"

"Yeah," Sirius nodded. "Let's go."

The Marauders walked up to the school and through the castle joking and shoving each other. They were at ease with each other, they were in fact still kids. Although the idea of the upcoming war was implanted into Tonks' mind it had yet to sink in to their heads. They didn't realize that the next few years would be the hardest of their life, or the last few years of their life.

The laughter and jokes continued all the way to Tonks' office and up until they opened the door and invited themselves in. But they fell silent by the time the door hit the wall, all joy from the conversation had been washed away replaced by pure silence.

The four stared at the white piece of paper that sat on the floor by their feet. No one moved, no one spoke, no one even breathed, and they all just stared at floor. It was Peter that spoke first, his voice causing the other three to jump.

"Should we open it?" His words rang out through the empty room, bouncing of the walls.

No one spoke, they just stared at the envelope. Finally Remus moved, he reached down and picked it up all then turned towards the others. They all felt the magic that had been sucked into the letter, dark magic. Although it wasn't a howler this letter had been created using magic, and it terrified the boys.

Remus had made eye contact with each of his friends before looking down at the letter. He moved his thumb under the envelope to open it but was stopped by James.

"Maybe you shouldn't do that…" He said with a shiver.

"Why?"

"What if it's dangerous?" Sirius suggested.

Remus shrugged, "the full moon is tomorrow night, and whatever is in the letter won't hurt too badly. My body can handle it." Remus then tore the letter open while the other three watched nervously.

Nothing happened when the paper was torn and Remus pulled the letter out. He paused, expecting something to happen, but after 30 seconds of nothing he dropped the envelope on the ground and unfolded the letter. Sparing one last glance at the three, Remus read the letter silently for a moment before paling.

"What?" Sirius demanded.

Remus looked up from the letter looking a mix of sick, scared, and worried. "Where's Tank?" He demanded desperately.

**_XXX_**

Tonks was still running, she didn't see any reason not to. Walking was much too slow and for once she actually had something to do. So it wasn't until she past the Great Hall and spotted a confused Dumbledore that she remembered that there was a rule against running in the castle. Slowing to a stop she mumbled a, "Hello Professor."

"Miss Tank," the headmaster nodded. "I'm glad to have run into you, I have some news to share with you."

"Oh? Can it wait?" Tonks asked. "I got a lead."

Dumbledore looked pleasantly surprised, "really? Well it'll only take a moment."

"Okay, shoot."

The older man looked uneasy, "Shannon's condition has changed."

"Is that a bad thing?" Tonks asked not liking the look he had given her.

"Yes, she's gotten worse. Last night she had a sudden change and almost died, she's stable now but the nurses are not sure what caused the disturbance."

Tonks' heart was already pounding from all the running she'd been doing but at this news it picked up even more. "Is she at risk? Could she still…"

"Very much so," the Professor nodded. "Although it pains me to say, but if she dies then we would finally be able to figure out what spell was cast."

Tonks nodded, if she died they could perform whatever they tests they needed to on her because then there would be no worry about harming her. You can't hurt a dead body. Tonks grimaced at the thought. "And the school?" Tonks asked.

"Much closer to closing," Dumbledore said.

"Two things we don't want for something we do want," Tonks said more to herself than to the man before her. "Thanks for the update Professor."

He nodded, "oh, and the Order has an update." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. "Some possible spells, and a few potions." He explained. "Just possibilities."

"Thanks," Tonks murmured and pocketed the list. She had to remember to give these to Remus later.

"Good luck on your lead," Dumbledore said quietly before continuing his walk down the hall.

Tonks watched him go, she suddenly lost her drive to continue on to the kitchens. She heaved a sigh and ran a hand through her short hair, drive or not she had a duty. With a slight skip she continued down the hall.

As she neared the kitchens, and the painting of the pear, Tonks began asking (politely) the paintings if they knew a Sal. She was met with a few grumpy replies and a few helpful directions and soon she was standing before a young man that had a large mischievous smile.

"Are you Sal?" She asked the painting. It was a very modern painting, perhaps painted in the 1800s or even early 1900s. He looked like a poorer man, his clothes were a bit ripped. It was an odd thing to see on a painting, who would paint a man with tattered clothes and then place him in the school?

"I am," he nodded.

"Do you know anything about the recent attacks?" Tonks asked cautiously, she wasn't very sure about this guy. Maybe it was the way he was looking at her, she just didn't like it.

"I do," he nodded again.

"Could you tell me anything about it?" Tonks prodded.

"I could," he responded. "But why should I?"

"Because I'm asking nicely," Tonks seethed, not really nicely.

He smirked, he was playing with her and they both knew it. "I guess I could give you a few details," He shrugged.

"What do you want me to do for you to give me all the details?" Tonks asked, a bit frustrated.

The smirk disappeared and he looked sad for a moment while saying, "You don't want to know everything."

"Why?" Tonks asked having noticed the sudden mood change.

"Trust me," he sighed. His mischievousness was gone.

"How do you know anything?"

He had looked away with the sigh, but at her words he turned back to her. "You don't want to know that either."

Tonks furrowed her brows, what was with this painting? "Okay, will you tell me a few things?"

The man in the painting sat a sit straighter, "The two that have been attacking students, or more specifically muggleborns, are just the grunt work. They perform the work, but it was not them that decided to do it. They're just blindly following."

"Who are they following?"

The man shook his head.

"Who are they?"

"Sixth year Bailey Robs, and seventh year Tyler Rood." The painting said.

Tonks breathed a sigh of relief, finally some names. "Ravenclaw and Syltherin?"

"I believe so," the painting nodded.

"Anything else you can tell me?" Tonks prodded.

The painting then took this time to return to his mischievousness, "yes, one more thing." He made a show of leaning forward as if to whisper something to her. Tonks moved in and listened, "careful of the nails, they can be more dangerous than the poison."

Tonks frowned, nails and poison? What did that have to do with anything? She didn't come here for a riddle. Tonks was just about to ask what he had meant when she heard yelling coming from down the hall. Turning her head towards where it was coming from she groaned and turned back to the painting but was surprised to only see an empty frame. Tonks stared at it for a moment, she peered in trying to find him before checking nearby paintings. They were all empty. How odd. Down the hall the yelling was getting louder, and closer.

"Tank!"

"Nova, where are you?"

"Tonks!"

Tonks stiffened when she heard the words, they were yelling for her _and _yelling her real name. She pulled her wand out and began towards the yelling. She was a bit worried, she was down by the dungeons and it was extremely dark down here making it difficult to see. Tonks neared the corner and paused, she could hear footsteps and more yelling.

"She has to be close, this is where Dumbledore said she was."

"Tank!"

"Calm down Remus, we'll find her."

"And if we don't? What if they get her before we do?"

Tonks sighed but couldn't help but to smile, it was just her four bumbling idiots. Lowering her wand she rounded the corner and gave them her best dry look, a look they paid no mind to because once they spotted her they all leaped on her. They crashed to the floor in a heap, Tonks on the bottom.

"Thank god you're okay."

"We thought we'd never find you."

All four gushed about finding her and being glad she was found. Tonks wasted no time pushing them off of her. "What are you on about? Aren't you supposed to be enjoying some Quiddich?"

Gradually the four did get off of her, but that didn't stop they worried comments. Tonks stopped listening to them when she found a hand being pushed into her face. Following it up she smiled at Remus and accepted the help to her feet. She always expected Remus to be the helpful one, but she hadn't expected him to also be the intimate one, so it came as a surprise when he pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

"Jesus, I was worried. I thought they got you, I thought you were going to be lying next to Shannon and Eddie." He whispered into her ear.

Tonks hesitantly wrapped her arms around him, accepting the hug. "Why would you think that?" She whispered back.

Remus pulled back and for a moment Tonks was saddened by the loss of warmth. She mentally frowned at herself, why would she be saddened?

Remus dug his hand into his pocket and handed her a wrinkled piece of paper. "We found this in your office, on the floor."

Grabbing it Tonks immediately felt a shiver overcome her, looking up at Remus she pulled her arms come in closer to her body. What was that sudden feeling she had? Looking back at the paper she realized it was a letter and she hurried to unfold it. Smoothing it out read through it quickly:

_Dear Nova Tank,_

_It has come to our attention that you are trying to solve the attacks done on the muggleborns, our attacks. We have put much work into these planned attacks, yes planned, and we must ask that you stay out of our work. Whatever moral reasonability you have towards finding us we ask that you ignore it or else we may have to change our next target to you._

_Please do not force our hand, you are a skilled witch and it would be unfortunate to lose you. We also want you to understand that _we_ are multiple people, much stronger than just you and the four students that follow you around._

_Stay out of this._

"_The Attackers"_


	13. Chapter 13

**EDIT JULY 14**

She leaned over the sink in the bathroom letting the water run, the sound soothed her, calmed her nerves. Closing her eyes she listened deeply to the sound of the water hitting the porcelain and slipping down the drain. She wished she could stand here and listen to it forever, but she knew she couldn't. Removing her hands from the side of the sink she looked up at the mirror and saw her reflection. It looked exactly as she felt, lost. Closing her eyes one last time Tonks let out a sigh before dipping her hands into the water one last time to splash her face.

Tonks had woken up in a mood and wished she could crawl back into bed, but the dreams that followed sleep was much worse than being up at 3 am. The dream had been so real, she felt like she had actually been fighting for her life, she felt like she had actually lost the fight. She had woken up with a jolt when the spell had hit her chest, the dream gone before she had been able to hit the ground.

Tonks grabbed a towel to dry her face as she left the bathroom and reentered her room. Across the room on the dresser was a tattered piece of paper, a paper that immediately caught Tonks' eye every time she was in the same room with it. It was the letter, the threat.

The letter had been written using magic, a dark magic that was felt throughout the ink. Tonks had given it to Dumbledore when she had talked to him the night before, but for some reason had gotten it back. Right after the Marauders had found her near the kitchens Tonks had rushed to find the headmaster who in turn called an emergency Order meeting. The letter had been passed around, from experienced hand to experienced hand only to end back in Tonks'.

The Order had been alarmed, the letter confirmed the fears that the attacks were more than unruly students. Mad Eye had been the one to suggest more security, more members of the Order around the school. To which Griffon Flank, a young witch Tonks had never seen before, stated that that would only confuse the Ministry and bring more suspicion thus further endangering Tonks. Soon everyone seemed to be arguing over the Orders next actions, it had been hectic. Yells and opinions were tossed around Dumbledore's office until the man himself had silenced everyone.

"This is not how we should be deciding these things," he had said. "Yelling does no good." It was then that he had turned to Tonks, "do you have any suggestions?"

Tonks had been surprised by his question until she realized that she was in charge of all this, of this entire investigation. "Er, well… Putting more people in the school will tip off everyone and I don't see any reason for it."

"Why?" Demanded Mad Eye in a rough voice.

Tonks stood straight and looked the man in his eye (his good eye) hoping to look more confident than she felt. "I have the names of the attackers, and I know they are not the ones solely in charge of all this, but if we keep an eye on what they're doing then no more students should be harmed."

"An eye?" Mad Eye barked, swiveling his own eye around in its socket. "Why don't we just go arrest them?"

Tonks paused, "because all I have are names. I don't have solid proof." Tonks had gotten the names of the attackers from a painting, a painting that hadn't been at any attack nor saw anything. The painting had given her names, but it was very possible that the names were not correct. Bailey Robs and Tyler Rood may not even attacked anyone, Tonks didn't know.

"Dumbledore why is it that you have a child in charge of all this?" Mad Eye barked towards the Professor. Tonks felt her heart sink.

"She is head of security Alastor," Dumbledore replied calmly. "I believe she is capable."

Mad Eye then in turn grumbled to himself, but nonetheless kept quiet. The rest of the meeting went smoothly, the Order finally decided that they'd keep out of the school. They would look into Bailey and Tyler, see if for any reason they are suspicious. Tonks didn't know how they would do this but agreed to the plan, if they found any information on them at all she'd be grateful. She needed all the help she could get, it was a pure stroke of luck that Tonks had found names and she had no clue how to go about finding proof.

When the meeting was drawing to a close Tonks was startled by a voice behind her, "but what about Tank?" Turning Tonks spotted Remus who had taken a step forward and away from his friends. Tonks had forgotten about them, they hadn't spoken a word the entire meeting.

"What about me?" Tonks asked, dumfounded.

Remus frowned at her, "the letter was a threat to you. If you continue working on this they'll attack you."

Tonks hadn't even though about that part of the letter, she had been so focused on how it had said it was targeting Muggleborns, and everything was planned, that she had paid that part no mind. "It doesn't matter," she said without a heartbeat.

"Doesn't matter?" Remus shook his head with an angry frown.

Tonks had been through Auror training and knew how to defend herself. In fact one of the things taught in training was that you must be sure of your own skills, so when Tonks thought of the idea of having to protect herself from a few underage students she didn't bat an eye. It also didn't help that Tonks was so hard headed, she could only think about her task at hand not the repercussions.

"Perhaps you should lay low for a while," Dumbledore suggested, and that was end of that.

**_XXX_**

"About what time does it get dark?" James asked from his place in the bathroom in front of the mirror. He brushed his hands through his hair, styling it and admiring himself.

"Eh," Remus looked down at his watch to check the time, "hour and half." Remus was stood next to the heater, glumly sipping on a cup that he'd been holding for more than 20 minutes now.

"Honestly Moony, just down the damn thing." Sirius scolded as he strutted past, grabbing sweaters for each of them.

"It's foul!" Remus complained as he peered into the cup and eyed the potion inside.

"What blankets should I bring?" Peter asked from across the room. He already had a blanket tossed over his shoulder, but was looking in the cupboard for more. "It's getting colder, how many should I bring?"

"Grab one for each of us," Sirius called over his shoulder as he tossed James his sweater.

"And that old one for me," Remus said into his potion.

Peter nodded and grabbed three more blankets, making sure one of them was the old blanket that was full of holes and stains. The chubby boy folded them neatly before tossing them over his shoulder. "Should we head out?"

James took off his glasses and pulled his sweater on, "once Remus is ready," he said through the fabric. Once James had successfully managed to pull the garment over his head he stumbled over to his bedside table to place his glasses.

"Seriously Remus, just chug the damn thing," Sirius moaned. "We cut it close last time, let's not do that again."

Remus gave his friend a glare, "I don't ask you guys to help," he murmured softly.

"Oh god Remus!" James was now taking his turn to moan and groan. "Don't start with this."

Remus sighed before quickly tossing his head back to drink the remaining bit of potion left in the cup. Once the drink had disappeared down his throat, he gave a loud cough and shriveled up his face in disgust.

"There, there," Sirius gave him a pat before throwing a sweater at him. "Now let's go."

All four teens crowded in close to each other as Sirius grabbed what looked like another blanket, and draped it over them. In an instant they disappeared.

They had barely made it out of the common room before one of them spoke, "ouch James, my foot."

"Hush, I can't see." James muttered. "My glasses are in the dorm, I don't want to break them."

"Like it would matter if you did," Sirius scoffed. "Lily would be all too happy to fix them for you."

The four continued to awkwardly shuffle under the invisibility cloak, their steps small and slow. The difficulty came when they reached the stairs and Remus got caught on the trick step. Yet somehow they managed to walk through the castle and made it to a statue that would let them out of Hogwarts.

Sirius was about to rip the cloak off of them when James grabbed him, "what's that noise?"

The four stood still, listening desperately. Off to the left was a set of footsteps, they were slow, and if you could say a thing about footsteps, gloomy. Everyone held their breath as they came closer. Normally the Marauders had a certain attitude when they walked the castle at night, it was like they owned it. But lately that hadn't been the case. Every time they were up out of bed and they heard any kind of noise they immediately fell silent. With an attacker loose in the castle, it was dangerous, a little bit of fear crept up in them. And it didn't help that they also wanted to catch this attacker.

The slow footsteps rounded the corner and the Marauders watched silently as Nova Tank meandered by. She didn't notice them as she past, not that she should've, but it was odd. She wasn't alert like she normally was, normally she was tense and always watchful of her surroundings, so it was strange to see her like this. The four stayed silent, even after she was long gone.

"Does she ever sleep?" Peter wondered aloud. "She's always around during the day, and if she's up all night…"

"She hasn't been sleeping well," Remus said.

"Oh yeah? Is that your fault Moony?" Sirius nudged Remus and wagged his brows only to earn a red face.

"No…" He said quickly. "It's the case, she doesn't believe she can do it, or how she's going to do it."

"You've been talking to her a lot lately?" Peter asked.

"Erm, a bit." Remus stuttered. "But she's been acting this way since the meeting a few days ago."

The four stood silently for a few more moments before Sirius brought them back, "we should get going, this time _before_ Moony moons us."

Remus heaved a sigh at his friend but followed nonetheless when they began to shuffle behind the statue. "Moons us," he muttered to himself.

**_XXX_**

"You know you could've told me that I'd finally get some peace and quiet."

"Huh?" The Marauders had sprawled themselves out in the infirmary. Remus got the bed and was dozing, while the other three made do with chairs, the floor, and the bottom half of Remus' bed (Sirius was curled tightly into a ball much like a dog).

"Also that last night was the full moon."

James cracked his eyes open from the uncomfortable position in the chair to find Tonks standing before them. "Nova," he yawned as he leaned forward to wake the sleeping Peter on the ground. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Big of a deal? Did you guys have Wolfsbane? Were you all safe?" Tonks was beginning to ramble.

"Yes-yes of course. Remus took wolfsbane and curled up on a blanket and slept most of the night," James stood and stretched with a groan. "Unusual for him, normally he's real antsy."

"And you three?" Tonks prompted.

Peter rolled over and without opening his eyes, "we had blankets too."

"Well, okay…" Tonks let the conversation go. She was feeling partially bummed that she had been unable to help the four out, she had grown attached to them and wanted to help out. Why exactly she didn't know, she knew they could handle themselves. "As long as you were safe. Thank god werewolves don't mind other animals much."

"Yeah," James smirked before frowning. "Wait… how did you know that we're Animagi?"

Tonks' breath caught, she wasn't supposed to know that. She thought that she had gotten past the whole time traveler thing with these four, but now that she slipped up…

"Yeah, we never told anyone." Peter added, still laying on the ground.

"Er, it was a guess?" Tonks shrugged.

James gave her an odd look but then shrugged, "lucky guess," he murmured and dropped the subject. Tonks knew it was anything but dropped, especially when she caught the look James gave Peter when he opened his mouth. She was screwed, her secret was gone. There was no way she can keep pretending that she didn't know what they meant when they asked her questions about it. She was still amazed that she had kept it going this long, how many times had she wormed her way out of these conversations?

"Erm, we have a meeting today, will you guys be coming?" Tonks asked.

"Meeting?" James frowned, "Order…"

"No, the other kind of meeting."

"Oh, yeah… We'll come, maybe Remus if he's up to it."

"Okay, seven at the usual place."

James nodded, "seven."

Peter added from the floor, "seven." The boy then waited until Tonks had left before sitting up and confronting James. "What the hell was that?"

James shrugged, "we think she's a time traveler right? Maybe she knows us from the future?"

Peter laid back down, "doesn't she trust us? Why won't she just admit it?"

James looked up at his two sleeping friends, watching how their chests rise and fall slowly and peacefully. "She talks a lot about this war that's starting, maybe it's something to do with that? Maybe it's hard for her to trust?"

**_XXX_**

"Can we continue the Patronus Charm?"

Tonks stood in the middle of the room, students spaced out all around her. They were all silent, they all watched her every move which was an odd occurrence for Tonks. She had taken many classes in her life time but never before had the students be so willing to learn, every single one of them. Even in Auror training there had been a few that couldn't care less about what was being said. It was a bit overwhelming to think that she was the cause of all this.

Looking around the room Tonks had eye contact with many Witches and Wizards that she'd never seen before. Yet they were all still here.

"Yes," Tonks turned and nodded at Lily's question. "This charm has many uses, more than just fighting off Dementors. Remember what we've been learning, and to those who are new today, find a partner that's been here before."

The group got into pairs and began working without fuss. Tonks looked over them yet again still trying to grasp the idea that so many of them had shown up. Easily 30 students, it was mind boggling.

Tonks was knocked out of her train of thought when a group of four entered the room, mildly distracting some of the students. Tonks' mood turned sour when she spotted how ill one of them looked, he should be resting. Weaving through the nearby pairs of students Tonks made her way over to them.

"Sorry we're late, Patronus?" James asked.

Tonks gave him a nod before turning to Remus, "You look like shit. What are you doing here?"

"Thanks for the complement," Remus murmured giving her a smirk.

"He's fine," Sirius interrupted.

"Go work on your charms," Tonks pointed off to the other side of the room. Sirius huffed but followed both James and Peter. "You should rest."

"I slept most of the night and all day, I don't need rest," Remus argued.

"Oh yeah, the bags under your eyes beg to differ," Tonks countered as she placed her hands on her hips. "And that bruise that's peeking out from your shirt looks painful."

Remus unconsciously pulled up on his shirt as if trying to hide the bruise on his neck, "I've had worse."

Tonks knew that, he had had much worse. "If you give me any reason that you should be in bed you're gone. Alright?" Tonks pointing a finger in his face.

He nodded, "course."

"Okay, get lost," Tonks gestured her head toward where the three other Marauders had gone off to.

"Thanks," Remus murmured as he walked past her. Tonks had almost missed it, it was so quiet. Quiet enough that she wondered if she should've heard it in the first place.

She gave a sigh before turning to the group and walking among them. She stopped every once in a while to help, giving words of encouragement and the odd demonstration. It wasn't until she was stopped by a tall Ravenclaw that everyone lost interest in the charm.

"Have you gotten any information on who attacked Shannon? And Eddie?" She asked. Everyone in the room put their wands down and turned towards her.

Tonks rubbed her neck awkwardly, she didn't how to answer. She wanted to tell them that she _had _made a breakthrough but she also didn't want to give out too much information. Too much information could put them in danger or they could start a rumor and tip off Tyler and Bailey. "Er, I have been making progress."

"Really?" Asked a nearby Hufflepuff.

"Yeah," Tonks gave a small nod. "Hopefully all this will be over."

"When you do find them… will these meetings be over?" Timidly asked a small third year that was standing right next to Tonks.

The Auror looked down at her with a frown, "no." She shook her head and looked back up at the rest of the students. "I feel like I've said this a million times but a war is starting out there, and soon some of us _will _be out there. The Ministry may deny it, your parents may even deny it, but that doesn't mean it isn't real. Many people will get hurt by this war, they may even die." Tonks couldn't help but to spare a glance at the Marauders, noticing that Lily had made her way over to them. "I don't want anyone to die, that's why I'm doing this. That's why we're all here learning this stuff. That's why you came here, that's why you want to learn."

"Thank you," someone called from the middle of the crowd. "Thank you for teaching us."

**_XXX_**

_Dear Ms. Tank_

_I would like to speak with you about the events that have been happening around the school but I can't. I have information for you that I can't speak about. I would like it if we could meet and somehow work out a way to talk about this._

_Please, I want to help._

_Margret Snazel_

Tonks frowned at the slightly cryptic letter that had been placed on her desk. It was by that girl that Tonks swore she knew, the girl that had shown up to detention not too long ago.

She wanted to meet and talk? Could this be a trap? Or was it possible that this girl knew something? Could she be in trouble?

Before Tonks was able to come to a conclusion she was interrupted by a light knock on the door. Quickly folding the letter and placing it in her pocket she called out, "come in."

The door swung open to reveal Peter. "I need you to come with me," he stated and held out his hand.

Tonks raised a brow, "what could you possibly want this close to curfew?"

Peter's hand fell, "well… we think it's time that we talked."

"Then why are you the only one here? Why didn't the rest of them come down?"

Peter gave a shrug and said, "They said you would be the most willing to follow me after I told you what we wanted to talk about."

Tonks frowned, "which is?"

"That you're a time traveler."

Tonks slouched, she knew this was coming. "Okay," she responded gloomily. "Just let me get my cloak."


	14. Chapter 14

**EDIT JULY 14**

"Is this some bad joke?"

"Lumos," a wand lit up revealing the face of a very serious Sirius Black, his pale completion standing out in the darkness of the room. "Why would this be a joke?"

"Can I at least say that I have no part in this at all?" Remus called from somewhere to the left of Sirius.

"Hush Remus, you're ruining the effect!" Sirius barked over his shoulder before turning back to Tonks. "You are here to come clean, to admit the truth, and to possibly become a Marauder."

Tonks turned to Peter to ask if this was really happening only to find an empty spot. He must've wormed his way into the room when she wasn't looking. "Okay…" She finally replied, "Can we turn the lights on at least?"

Another wand lit up, this time showing James' face. "No, this is part of initiation," he stated with the same level of emotion as Sirius. "Now first off, to become a Marauder you must reveal all secrets to the group. We don't hide things from each other, we don't lie to each other, and we don't ever let each other face their fears alone. That is our motto, do you wish to accept it?"

"Isn't hiding things and lying basically the same thing?" Tonks asked.

"Do you wish to accept it?" James asked again with more force.

"Aren't I technically a teacher? Why am I joining the Marauders?" Tonks asked again, this time more to annoy James.

Another light lit up, this time showing Remus' face. "Just say yes," he sighed but gave a soft smile.

"Okay, I accept." Tonks gave a nod.

"Now we must admit our deepest, darkest secrets. Peter?" Remus looked to his left as another light flicked on.

"I'm not a pureblood, my father is a muggle and my mother is muggle-born," Peter stated in a rush. "James?"

"My mother is terminally ill, she may or may not make it to the end of the year. When she is gone I think it's safe to assume that my father may not last much longer." James looked down as he said that, the light from his wand creating an odd look on his face. "Sirius?"

Sirius ran a hand through his hair, "I'm no longer on speaking terms with anyone in my family nor have I even been to the Black house in nearly a year." Sirius gave a small sad sigh before turning to Remus. "Moony?"

"I'm a werewolf," he said with no emotion. "And I have been since I was a boy." He then looked up at Tonks. "Tank?"

Tonks knew that more or less this was a show, they wanted her to admit that she was a time traveler. They wanted her to know they had her trust and now they want hers. So Tonks merely closed her eyes and opened her mouth, "My name is really Nymphadora Tonks and I'm not from this time."

"I fucking told you!" Tonks opened her eyes to see Sirius tapping the tip of his emulating wand on Remus' chest.

"I didn't doubt you," Remus responded as he moved the tip of the wand away from his body.

"And time travel!" Sirius continued on. "Why here of all times? Why us?" Sirius turned toward Tonks with excitement. The lights flicked on to reveal the messy room.

"Well… it was actually an accident," Tonks shrugged. She felt somewhat relieved, finally someone knew the truth. Finally she wasn't alone in this world.

"Accident? How?" Remus asked as he moved back to sit on the end of his bed.

Oh you'll figure out how in about 17 years. "I didn't know it was a time turner when I picked it up."

"Tell us something, about your time. Anything! Please?" James rushed forward and asked. Both he and Sirius looked beyond excited, much like two kids in a candy store.

"The war, you always talk about it. Is it still going on?" Sirius tacked on.

Tonks didn't know what to say, she was finally at ease that she had someone to talk to about all this but on the other hand she couldn't talk about this to any of them. She had already messed up the time line and telling them anything more about her own time could only further ruin it. "Er, it ended. But it's recently started again."

"A different war or…" Remus began.

"The same one," Tonks replied.

"How…" James frowned.

Tonks only shook her head, "I can't say too much." She had to draw a line somewhere.

"That's fair," Sirius shrugged. Tonks gave a pleased smile at his words.

"Do you know us?" Peter asked. "In your time, have you met us?"

"Yes," Tonks breathed. It was partially a lie, but she couldn't tell the whole truth.

"Really? I'm sure you had a thing with Remus though, am I right?" Sirius elbowed Tonks and wagged his brows.

Tonks gave a small laugh, "no, our relationship was nothing like that."

"Oh, brutal." Sirius muttered. "Sorry Moony."

Remus turned red as he glared at his shaggy haired friend causing Tonks to frown. She had assumed that Remus had this school boy crush on her but now she was beginning to wonder if it was more. Maybe Sirius's badgering was more than just him teasing a friend.

"Anyway!" James called catching everyone's attention. "Initiation?"

"Oh, right." Sirius gave James a nod before turning to Tonks. "Nymphadory Tonks…"

"Nymphadora," Tonks interrupted with a sigh.

"Er, right, sorry. Nymphadora Tonks," Sirius paused to check that he had said her name correctly before continuing on, "Do you wish to become a Marauder?"

Tonks had heard about these four frequently when she was a child, she had even been commonly compared to them. And if she at this very moment had been 14 she wouldn't have even hesitated, but she wasn't. What would happen if she did become a Marauder? What about the time line? Would they etch her name into the Map, how drastic of a change would that have on the upcoming future?

"Er… yes, I do, but…"

"What?"

"I'm not supposed to be here, I wouldn't want to mess up anything anymore than I already have." Tonks gave a halfhearted shrug. She was disappointed that she had to turn down this amazing offer, she almost wished she could take back the words and simply nod at Sirius' question.

"Uh," Sirius turned to look at James who only shrugged in response. With a glance at the other two it was confirmed that none of them had any response.

"I guess you don't have to…" Remus said. "We just wanted you to know that you can trust us."

Tonks smiled, "I do. I wouldn't have told you anything if I thought otherwise."

Remus smiled back, the fading red in his face reappearing ever so slightly.

"Anwayyyyyy," Sirius dragged out the word as he attempted to regain Tonks' attention. "Does this mean we can call you Nymphadora?"

"Sure," Tonks nodded as she folded her arms. "But only if you want detention."

Sirius gave her a frown, "Tonks?"

"I'd rather you didn't, you guys are the only ones that know my real name."

"Not even Dumbledore?" Peter asked quietly.

Tonks thought back to the elder teacher, he had never asked her nor said anything that meant he knew that she was a time traveler, but he did behave strangely. Like the fact that he willingly gave her a job at the school _despite the fact that she had no references at all_. It was odd, perhaps he did know? Tonks turned to Peter and shook her head, how could he know? "So just stick with Tank," Tonks finished.

"Fish Tank?" James asked as he through an arm over her shoulders with a smirk. He waited until she had rolled her eyes before continuing, "so this attacker thing…"

"What? Any news?" Tonks perked up, she wanted a breakthrough, something, anything. "Oh, Remus I have a list that the Order rounded up." She dipped her hand into her pocket to pull out a tattered piece of paper, "some spells and a few potions, but still worth looking through."

Remus gave her a nod before shaking his head, "good… but that's not what we wanted to talk about."

"Then what?"

The four gave each other a look, and Tonks watched as Sirius waved his hand at Remus as if signaling for him to speak. "Er, well… It's more about you." Remus started.

"What about me?" Tonks replied cautiously.

"Well, your health?" Remus stumbled over his words. "The threat, you could get seriously hurt Tonks-Tank." He stuttered at her name for a moment but continued before Tonks had a chance to butt in. "You've already gotten hurt, a concussion. That may not be serious but it's still an injury, if it had been the muggle world…"

"You don't need to worry about me, I'll be fine. It's really you guys, they could attack you too-" Tonks began a speal about their own safety when James interrupted her.

"We're fine, we have each other. We all have three more of us to watch each other's backs, but you only have yourself. Please-"

"Don't." Tonks stopped him. "I am a trained Auror, I know how to handle myself. That's part of my job, in fact it's also my job to keep you all safe. Since I've already fucked that up, twice, I don't want to put anyone else at risk. I'm fine with you all helping me with research, but I have to put my foot down here. So if you were thinking about a buddy system, then no. You watch each other's backs, and I'll watch my own, okay?"

Tonks was slightly taken aback by the looks on their face, it was a mix between shock and perhaps sadness. Maybe she was reading it wrong, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that they stayed safe. Tonks spared a look towards Remus and was upset over the way his face was turned down, disappointment dripping from it. She quickly looked away, not wanting it to be remembered later.

"But I should be going, check the halls, make sure everyone's in bed." Tonks gathered herself, taking time to spare Remus one last look (she couldn't help herself) and quickly saying, "let's meet up later to talk over the possible spells, okay?"

"Sure, I have a free period in the morning. Let's meet up."

"Alright, goodnight boys." Tonks gave them a bit of a sarcastic wave before leaving the room. As she walked down the stairs she was upset about the sudden horrid taste in her mouth that the end of that conversation had left. She gave a sigh and moved on, nothing she could really do.

Tonks began her rounds of the school, she normally walked the hall to make sure the students were all in their respective dorms. It was more of a safety precaution, but also doubled as a lookout. Though she doubted that she would find the attackers out in the hall way, you never know. She had run into them before while out at night, it could happen again.

Just as she finished that thought a voice rang out from behind her, "Don't you ever get any sleep?" It was a deep voice, but that didn't hide the playfulness that rang out along with the words.

Quickly Tonks turned and spotted the owner to the voice. The hall was dark but she could still make out the silhouette that was leaning against the wall. "Perhaps," Tonks replied cautiously as she moved her hand over her wand.

The silhouette chuckled, "do you feel threatened Nova?"

Tonks pressed her lips together, "I'd prefer if you called me Tank."

"Oh, sorry. Do you feel threatened Tank?" Tonks didn't like the way the silhouette seemed to be taunting her.

"Do _you_ feel threatened?" She responded, feeling a bit daring.

"Hmm…" The silhouette moved closer, stepping into the moonlight that peaked in from the window nearby. It was a man, a man man. He definitely wasn't a student, he looked far too mature. He also had a dark vibe to him that made Tonks wary. "I can't say I do," he finished with a slight smirk.

Tonks eyed him up, he had very dark hair a bit of stubble on his jaw. Tonks' mind wandered, had he been hiding out in the castle? He didn't look too disgruntled, fairly clean. "So you know my name? May I ask yours?"

"Certainly," His smirk grew larger. "Eb, Mason Eb." He then gave a bit of a sarcastic bow and moved a bit closer. Tonks studied him further.

His complexion was dark, much darker than the average Death Eater. Was he a Death Eater? What other reason could he have for being in the castle because he certainly wasn't a student?

"Mason?" Tonks responded. "What are you doing here?"

"Ooh, cuts right to the chase. Y'know, I was a bit skeptical when they said you were a 'possible threat'," Mason provided air quotes and a roll of the eyes before continuing. "But I see why. Not easily distracted, nice. I don't normally get that reaction from girls."

"Oh?" Tonks was a bit annoyed with his response. "You might also want to mark down that avoiding questions doesn't work on me."

"And some sass, I like it." Mason moved to lean against the wall next to Tonks, "but I suppose I could get on with it. I was hoping for some conversation though, I don't get out too often."

"I'm not much of a talker," Tonks spat as she folded her arms. She felt less threatened by this man than before, he was more of nuisance.

"Alright, alight," Mason leaned away from the wall and held his hands up. "I'll spit it out." Mason let out a sigh and looked Tonks in the eye giving her chills. "My people gave you a letter, and they know that you've read it and were hoping that you took it to heart."

Tonks felt her blood turn cold, whoever this man was he was with the attackers. Tonks unfolded her arms and moved her hand back over her wand.

"Stay out of the attacks and you'll be fine, if not they will take action. I'm here to make sure you understand that message," Mason's words sounded rehearsed, almost like he practiced them in the mirror many times before saying them to her. "We are powerful, and although you are skilled we are far more skilled than you could ever be." It was at this point that Mason's words began to sound more human and less like a trained robot, "please Nova stay out of this."

Tonks was taken aback by the sorrow look in his eyes, he had done a complete 180 from what he had been just a few moments ago. "I can't," she whispered unable to keep her mouth shut.

He grimaced, "then I'm sorry for what I have to do." He reached back behind him to grab his wand but Tonks was ready. "Locomotor Mortis!"

"Protego!" Tonks blocked the spells and stumbled back slightly. She made eye contact with Mason for a moment before he moved again, firing another spell at her. She quickly blocked it again, this time more prepared.

"Sorry," he murmured. "Crucio." His voice was clear and the spell rang out in Tonks' ears. She again moved to block it but the spell was too powerful for her little shield. It hit her directly in the chest and she felt the pain ripple, starting just below her collar bone. Pain exploded everywhere, slowly moving out to her limps and intensifying in her middle. Somewhere in the distance she heard screams, but she was unable to register that they were her own.

Then, it stopped. The pain disappeared completely, leaving her feeling empty.

"Crucio," and it was all back again. The pain was everywhere, and it went on and on. Tonks wondered if it would ever stop, she hoped it would stop. She would do anything to make it stop, anything! If only it would stop now.

Then again it was gone.

"I suggest you stay away from all this, for your own good." Mason spoke softly, but Tonks didn't register the words. She was too wrapped up in her own world. She ended up curled up in a ball, holding herself tightly. "I'm sorry, crucio…"

**_XXX_**

"Why does it always seem like we end up here?"

"Sirius, please…"

"No, really! Are we just shitty at keeping our friends safe or are we always in some sort of trouble?"

"I appreciate your concern Mr. Black, but mind your language."

"Sorry Pomfrey…"

Tonks breathed deeply, barely able to understand the words being said around her. Slowly she opened her eyes, frowning at the sudden brightness.

"Ton-Tank!" Someone exclaimed.

Tonks glanced around at the people sitting around her bedside and relaxed slightly, "well if it isn't my posse."

"Who else would it be?" James asked with a small smile.

"Arh," Tonks gave a groan as she moved her arm. Every part of her felt sore, as if she'd just ran a marathon only she'd used every single muscle in her body to do so. She dropped her arm over her face, closing her eyes with another groan. "It hurts."

"What hurts?" Tonks heard Remus ask.

"Everything," She moaned. "What the hell happened?"

"The Cruciatus Curse," Madam Pomfrey replied. Tonks removed her arm from her face to look at the nurse. "Nothing too bad, you were only hit three or four times. You will be sore for a few days though, so I'd take it easy if I were you."

"Am I going to have to stay here?" Tonks asked desperately hoping the answer was no.

The nurse gave a smile, "no, you can head back to your room now if you like." At her words Tonks immediately moved to get out of bed. "Boys, boys, help her," Pomfrey called to the Marauders. "Make sure she gets up to her room, and please tell her to relax…"

Tonks pulled the blankets away from her body and felt the cool air hit her legs. She had been dressed in a gown and once she noticed she began mumbling about her clothes.

"I've got them," Peter called. "Your wand too."

Tonks thought about changing, but the idea of moving her body enough to shimmy into jeans wasn't ideal. "Will you carry them Peter?"

"Sure."

Tonks scooted to the edge of the bed with a grimace and was relieved when an arm reached out to help her off the bed. The hand wrapped around her upper arm and assisted in pulling her to her feet, Tonks didn't look up at the owner of the hand until her feet hit the cold floor but she wasn't surprised when she did and found Remus.

Sirius helped get her feet into her shoes and soon they were off down the hall. Peter led the way, his arms full of Tonks' stuff. James was right beside him, holding an extremely large bottle of a greenish potion that Tonks suspected Madam Pomfrey had given him. Sirius was beside her, occasionally giving her a side glance as if to check that she was okay. And finally Remus, who was the one she leaned against as they walked. He had an arm wrapped around her shoulders, which she was grateful for because she wasn't sure if she could've even been able to walk on her own.

Tonks was glad they were here, although it was mainly her body that hurt she also felt mentally off. She felt drained, and if she had been on her own she knew it would've been impossible for her to find her room. She would've easily gotten lost trying to navigate her way through the maze that is Hogwarts. Even now as she followed the group she attempted to remember the way and was unable to, she couldn't map out the castle. Heck she didn't even know where she was right now, the only thing she did know was how good Remus smelt. Much like chocolate and ink.

Soon she was getting into bed with a sudden feeling of drowsiness.

"Here, Pomfrey said you should take some of this," Tonks watched as James poured a bit of the green potion out for her to drink.

Tonks drank it without complaint, but as soon as the liquid disappeared down her throat she began firing questions. "Who found me?"

"Who?" Peter frowned confused.

"Who found me, I was the hall wasn't I? On the ground?"

"No," Sirius shook his head, "actually Madam Pomfrey found you in the infirmary this morning."

"What?" Tonks tried to yell out the word but it seemed like her voice was unable to do so. "I was attacked, the attackers. It was a warning, Mason Eb." Tonks' eyes closed on their own accord and her sentences became phrases. "It hurt, I was attacked. The attackers, warning…"

"We can talk about it later…." Was all Tonks heard before she out like a light.

**_XXX_**

"Who the hell is he?!"

"This isn't getting us anywhere Remus, we should head back and wait for her to wake up," James pleaded.

"No, I'm going to find him. Once I find him we'll be just a bit closer." Remus was tearing through the library, currently looking through the list of names of the people that had gone to Hogwarts Desperately trying to find the name Mason Eb.

"Remus stop, we both know the real reason why you're doing this." James argued getting in Remus' way as he looked for another book.

"Oh, really? What is it?"

"Your obsession with her, you're like in love with her or something! So here you are trying to find her attacker, trying to avenge her!"

Remus stopped looking at the books to turn to James, "Yeah, I like her. A lot, maybe too much. Would I go as far as to say love? Possibly. But that's weird, so I'm not going to say it. And James, because she's my friend she deserves to have this guy found. Will it help if we find this guy? Yes!" Remus continued looking through text books as he spoke. "This guy attacked her, she said he was part of the attackers. We find him, we find the attackers. We find the attackers, we stop more attacks from happening. So _you_ go back and wait for her to wake up, I'll be here _doing something._"

James stepped back, both shocked and hurt by Remus' words. Remus flipped threw a few more pages before sighing, he turned to apologize to James for snapping at him only to find no one there. He sighed again before turning back to the book.

"Excuse me!" Called a voice.

Remus turned around and spotted a first year standing behind him. "Huh?"

The girl looked around her before speaking, "I need to talk to Miss Tank, now." She sounded nervous but entirely sure of herself.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked, confused. "Is something happening? A fight?"

"No nothing like that but I need to speak to her _now_."


	15. Chapter 15

**So here it the very first new chapter now that I'm back from my hiatus! It's short, but I needed to start somewhere. The end of this chapter was just a perfect way to end a chapter so, there a you go.**

**As always, enjoy! Please leave a review, I love feedback or anything you guys say. (And thanks for the review Lupinfamily4ever!)**

**~abluenotebook**

Tonks leaned against her desk glaring at Peter as she lazily slurped her soup.

"Please stop that," Peter groaned as he looked up from his textbook. "I'm just here to help."

Tonks had awoken from her 'nap' (she was out for over 10 hours, it was hardly a 'nap' as Sirius put it) and had been forced to her desk and soup placed before her. Normally she would've been okay with this, the food, but when she started talking plans she had been shut down. Sirius had declared that it was impossible to eat and talk at the same time as he placed an odd spell on her mouth that made it impossible to speak. She truly had, but opening her mouth was the only thing she was able to do, words were nonexistent.

Tonks took another slurp and continued glaring. Although it was a bit childish, Peter was the only one to blame and the only one that might now the spell to let her talk again. Sirius, as soon as he had placed said spell, declared that he needed to find the remaining Marauders (who were mysteriously absent) and bolted from the room.

Tonks stared into her soup, the act of moving her arm from the bowl to her mouth was exhausting. She hated this, she had so much she needed to do and all this was holding her back. She needed to talk to Dumbledore and the other professors, there was a dangerous man in loose in the school.

Moving the noodles around and ignoring the pain it brought her arm, Tonks continued to think. Who was Mason Eb? A Death Eater? He was certainly an attacker, where they connected to Death Eaters? They must be, why else would they be doing this? And how did he get into the school?

These thoughts were bringing on a headache so Tonks let herself focus on her soup. Or at least that was what she was going to do until James and Sirius stormed into the room with Dumbledore not too far behind them.

"We went and got Dumbledore. I figured it was best to hear everything right from the horse's mouth," James explained as he closed the door behind them.

"You were attacked?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

Tonks pointed to her mouth frantically while the four others in the room simply stared at her. It took a moment before Sirius understood what was happening. "Oh right…" He mumbled as he waved his wand.

"I will kill you later for that," Tonks began with once her voice was restored. She then launched into the story of how she was attacked my Mason Eb.

Dumbledore's calm demeanor turned into one of concern. "I believe worrying about an attack on you is a bit too late. I think we need to bring in members of the Order. We need more security."

Tonks nodded in agreement.

"I'm calling a meeting tonight." Dumbledore declared. "I'd like you to come, but please for the time being, rest." The aging headmaster stated before turning to leave. He was nearly gone when he turned back and motioned to James and Sirius, "Be sure she rests."

The two only nodded and closed the door behind the man.

Tonks finished her soup and asked a question that had been nagging her sense the beginning, "Where is Remus?"

James shared a look with Sirius before rubbing the back of his neck. "Erm, well… Trying to avenge you."

Peter gave a small snort as Tonks raised her eyebrows in confusion. "Avenge me? I'm alive thought, isn't that something you do when someone is dead?"

"Maybe that's the wrong word. He's just a bit freaked out right now." James corrected. "Tank, you were attacked with an Unforgivable. That a serious curse. People have been known to go mad because of it."

Tonks lets her mind wander to Neville and his parents as a shiver went down her spine. "I realize that. And thank you for being concerned, but I'm fine. I have work to do, and it seems I need to start with Remus." Tonks stood up, her legs protesting.

"You heard Dumbledore!" Sirius began only to earn a glare from Tonks.

"Dumbledore isn't a Doctor, and I'm in charge. I'm the boss, aren't I?" Tonks argued as she grabbed her shoes. "If you stop me I will give you detention."

The three Marauders looked at each other but made no movements to stop Tonks as she stomped out of the room. Once out in the hall she paused, where would Remus be?

"He's in the Library," James called softly.

Tonks turned and gave him a little wave and began down the hall towards the Library. Her entire body was sore and protested each step. It was slow work getting up the stairs but eventually she made it.

She trudged through the Library, looking for a certain lanky teen. She found him sitting on the floor buried in the middle of a pile of textbooks. Tonks gently sat down next to him, leaning her back against the bookcase.

"I hear you were avenging me," Tonks said causally.

Remus looked up from his book to look at who sat down next to him. He hummed softly as he took in her appearance. This was the first time he had seen her with a mousy brown hair color. It was still the same as normal but the lack of color gave her a smaller appearance. Studying her face he could tell she was exhausted and he couldn't blame her. If he had been the one attacked he definitely wouldn't be out in the Library talking to him.

"You were attacked. I couldn't just sit around." Remus said softly.

She leaned her head back against the bookcase and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She gave him a small smile, "Thank you." With that said she used her foot to close the book in front of Remus. "But give it a rest."

He sighed, but leaned back against the bookcase. For a while they just sat there silently. Remus had thought that she had fallen asleep until she spoke again.

"I hate this war. Nothing good has come out of it."

Remus didn't know what to say. Personally he had yet to experience the tragedy that war had to bring, so he didn't know how to connect with her. Without knowing what else to do he reached out and touched her hand. "I'll help," He murmured. "And when you go home, I'll help you then too. I promise."

Tonks thought back to how she had left Remus back in her time, alone in a closet back in the Ministry. "I did something horrible, back at home. Will you forgive me for it?"

"Yes," Remus breathed.

"Thank you," Tonks breathed back. She relaxed, part of her had been holding onto that. How she had left Remus all by himself. She felt better talking to Remus here in this time, and she knew it wasn't fair to ask forgiveness from him even when he didn't know what he was forgiving her for. But she took it anyway.

"You're too kind to me Remus."

Remus didn't say anything to that so they fell silent again.

After a while of them just sitting on the floor quietly with Remus' hand on top of hers, he remembered something important.

"A little girl wants to talk to you, Margret Snazel?"

"Oh yes, she sent me a letter."

"I told her you weren't feeling well, but you'll talk to her as soon as you felt better." Remus felt a bit daring as he rubbed him thumb over her hand.

"What time is it now?" Tonks asked.

"Um… nearing Two."

"Let's go now," Tonks leaned forward and began to stand up. She groaned the entire time, her muscles protesting each move.

"No, you shouldn't. You need to rest." Remus argued.

"I-I'm fine," Tonks claimed as she looked down at Remus. She swung her arms around, hoping the movement would get rid of the pain only to have to bite back a yelp of pain.

"Yeah, you look real fine." Remus commented as he watched her face contort to pain.

"Fine, a quick nap. After that though it's back to work. We have an Order meeting tonight and I'd like a bit more to report other than the fact that I can't move without pain."

**_XXX_**

"Why is it that she listens to you?" Sirius whined. All four Marauders sat in Tonks' office while she was asleep in her in bed the next room over. "I ask her kindly to do something and at best a get sass."

"I don't know," Remus shrugged. "I'm more likeable I guess."

"What did you two talk about? She left in a hurry." James asked. He sat backwards on one of the few chairs in the office, his head resting against the back of the chair. He was tired and every second it was getting harder to fight his drooping eyes.

"Not much really, we just sat together."

Sirius made a nose much like a pig as he puckered his lips together. This only earned a glare from Remus and a look of disgust from Peter.

"Stop," Remus finally demanded.

"You like her, trust me, I know. So when are you going to get it together and snog her?" Sirius asked with ferocity. He leaned against the wall closest to the door, he was just as exhausted as James but refused to admit to it.

"I can't kiss her. I can't do anything with her." Remus shook his head. He was the lucky one who had scored the chair at the desk.

"Why?" Yawned James.

"She's part of the staff. Staff members can't do that kind of stuff with students."

"They can, as long as no one knows about it." Sirius winked at Remus who only shook his head.

"I'm not putting her in that position," Remus shook his head. From the corner sat on top of a pile of books, Peter nodded in agreement.

"So you're admitting it? You really do like her?" Sirius jumped up with a cheer. "James, our boy is growing up."

"Yay," James said as his eyes slid shut.

"Sirius it's best if you drop this." Remus demanded. However the other boy paid him no mind as he strutted over to James and danced around him. "Sirius!"

"What? I can't hear you over the sound of your love for Tank!"

"A love that will never happen, drop it."

Sirius looked at Peter and then shrugged before saying, "Not if I'm in charge."

**_XXX_**

Tonks didn't know she should feel about the group of boys that had taken to following her around. Before she had been attacked it was all just chance that they seemed to be everywhere she went but now they were really following her around.

When she woke from her nap she found the four of them in her office having a heated conversation. About what she'll never know, nor will she care. She reminded them about the meeting and she suggested they take some time to work on their school work while she showered, however they all just shrugged and stayed in her office. When it was time for the meeting they all followed her there.

She had taken to these boys but found herself annoyed at their presence. She also knew exactly why they hadn't left her side, and it was the stupid threat.

She was a big girl, an Auror for god's sake. She can take care of herself. Sure she had been attacked, but it was a fluke.

Or at least that was what Tonks was telling herself.

So she entered the meeting already a little bit irritated. The events of the meeting didn't help, and it all started off by the two people by the door of Dumbledore's office.

She hadn't known either of them, but as she walked up she overheard their conversation. About her.

"I don't know what he's thinking, this is an extremely serious situation and he has _her_ in charge." Spoke a man with long brown hair that reached down to the middle of his back.

"Maybe she has some training we are unaware of? He wouldn't leave the fate of his school to just anybody just off the street." Replied the short stalky woman.

"I doubt it. Mad Eye says he has no clue who she is. Mad Eye knows everyone that's an Auror, even bounty hunters."

"She's already been attacked. Maybe we should bring our concerns to Albus?"

As Tonks grew closer she cleared her throat and to two snapped their gaze over to her. "I'll tell Albus myself since you two seem so concerned." Tonks tried not to sneer at the two but knew her words came out a bit more violent than she meant.

She entered the office quickly, hoping the meeting would start soon so she would have less time to mule over the conversation she had just heard.

She _was _in fact just someone off the street. And yes, Dumbledore was trusting the fate of the school on her shoulders. Was she handling that weight properly? Most definitely not.

Her mood must've been obvious because once she entered the room the Marauders slinked off finally leaving her alone. As she stood in the corner next to a stack of old books she wanted to feel relieved but instead felt alone. Tonks wanted nothing more than to disappear back in her room and continue sleeping.

"Welcome everybody, and thank you for coming." Dumbledore stood by his desk and looked down at everyone in the room. "I'm happy to see that we have grown."

Tonks quickly glanced around and noted that there was more people in this meeting than the last. The fact that she didn't know any of the faces made her feel ill. Who were these people? They were not involved in the Order back in her time, what will happen to them?

"I called this meeting because one of us has been attacked."

Murmurs began around the room and Tonks felt too many eyes drift her way.

"Nova was attacked with the Cruciatus Curse by a man named Mason Eb from within the school." Dumbledore explained the situation. "I know we agreed that taking extra precautions would only raise suspicion, but it is too far past that. We need more security. We can't let people get into Hogwarts without us knowing."

Tonks thought about Mason Eb and felt her mood drop even further.

Why was she even bothering? Was she even helping? She just needed to get back to finding a way home.

**_XXX_**

Tonks was wallowing. She was still upset about everything that had happened the night before. So she was handling it the best way she knew how. She was currently sitting alone in the Three Broomsticks with a Butterbeer in front of her. She was hoping the drink would give her enough stamina to gather herself together. She sucked at her job but she did have things to do.

She was half way through it and still felt nothing. Currently she was more interested in the scrapes and marks carved into the table than she was in finding Margret Snazel. She would rather watch the bubbles form in her drink than ask Remus if he had found anything on the list of possible spells or potions the attackers could've used on the muggleborns. And nothing made he want to Rood or Robs, the two suspects that were the attackers.

Taking another sip of her drink she was annoyed when someone sat down across from her. She expected it to be one of the Marauders, but when she looked up she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tonks said through her teeth in an attempt to hide her fear.

"Apologizing," smiled Mason Eb. He had a dark cloak pulled up over his head, his eyes peeking out from it with joy.

"Are you here to attack me again? Leave another message?" Tonks seethed.

"Nope." Mason popped the p in his sentence. "I'm here for personal reasons rather than business."

"So hurting me is business and not personal?"

"Yeah," Mason nodded. He reached over and took a large gulp from Tonks drink. "Ah, Butterbeer has always tasted foul. I'm a Firewhiskey fan."

"What do you want?" Tonks let her hand slither to her pocket where her wand was stored.

"Like I said, to apologize." Mason looked her in the eye. "I'm someone you hire to do dirty work. I don't always agree with what I have to do. Sneaking into Hogwarts to use an illegal spell on you is something I don't agree with."

"But you did it anyway." Tonks glared.

"The pay was good," Mason shrugged and placed his hands on the table when he noticed how Tonks eyed them. "I'm not here to hurt you, I promise."

"Yeah?" Tonks glanced around the room trying to catch the eye of someone she knew.

"Yes, and I am truly sorry. If I had done it with malice, would I have dropped you off in the hospital wing?" Mason raised an eyebrow. "I was also told to kill you if you gave me any inconveniences, and you're still alive. So there's that."

"Wow, thank you so much." Tonks was irritated. It did seem that he was harmless, but that didn't mean anything. "I don't accept your apology, get lost before I have you arrested." Tonks could feel a headache forming and she silently wished this wasn't happening right now.

"Okay," Mason looked dejected. "But hey, if I get hired again to kill you I'll give you a heads up beforehand. I owe you that much," He added as he stood.

"You've tracked me down to apologize for doing your job. I doubt you'll get hired again." Tonks glared.

"You never know love," Mason blew her a kiss before leaving.

Tonks pushed her Butterbeer away from her and placed her head on the table. She hoped she had imagined that entire conversation. She would rather be seeing things than to have to explain that to Dumbledore later. And to also tell him that she told him to go away rather than arresting him.

"Who was that?" Tonks heard someone ask as they replaced Mason's seat.

"Who?" Tonks said into the table.

"The person who just left and blew you a kiss." Tonks looked up to see Remus sitting before her. He was looking off into the crowd of people in the Bub.

"Nobody," Tonks lied as she sat back up. "What are you doing here? There isn't a Hogsmeade trip for another few weeks."

"Then what are you doing here?" Remus asked placing his elbows on the table and looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Enjoying a nice drink," Tonks said flatly.

"When are we going to talk to Margret?"

"I don't know," Tonks mumbled. "Wait, what do you mean we?"

Remus ignored her and continued with the questions, "When do you want to hear about the list of possible spells I looked up?"

"I-"

"When are you going to get back to work? Tonks," Remus leaned forward as he said her real name. "I don't know what you're doing here, but we have shit to do. You can do this."

Tonks looked down at her hands. How did Remus know exactly what she was going through?

"You have a half hour, I'll meet you in the castle." With that said Remus got up and left.

Tonks sat alone at her table. She didn't know what she wanted more; the conversation with Mason to be made up or the one with Remus. She must be going insane.


	16. Chapter 16

"Margret, you said you were not able to talk about the things that have been happening. Why is that?"

"It's a family secret," Margret wrapped her cloak tighter around herself as she looked up at Tonks. The two sat in her office. Margret sat on a chair that was pulled up to the desk while Tonks sat on the desk chair facing the small girl.

"What would happen if you told me?" Tonks asked softly.

Margret shook her head, "Nothing good."

"Why do you feel the need to tell me?"

The first year looked close to tears. "It's not good. The things they have planned."

Tonks reached over to rub the girls arm, hoping to comfort her in some way. "Can you tell me who they is?"

The girl shook her head.

Tonks sighed, this was going to be hard if the girl wasn't going to say anything. Tonks wasn't good at miming, or whatever it is she'd need to do to get information. "Er, Tyler Rood? Is he one of them?"

The girl frowned at Tonks before nodding. "Yes, he is one of them."

Tonks pressed on. "He's just grunt work, right? Nobody in charge?"

"Yes," the first year agreed.

"And Bailey Robbs? Same with her?"

This time the girl began to cry. Large fat tears ran down her face as she nodded. "Y-Yes, Bailey too."

Tonks didn't know what to do. Should she comfort the girl? Should she just let her cry? "Uh, do you know Bailey?"

Margret tried to calm herself down, wiping away the tears with her sleeve. "Yeah," she breathed, her breath shaky. "Bailey is a sixth year in Ravenclaw. S-She's my cousin."

Tonks nodded, she was starting to see how this was a family affair. "Who's in charge?"

Margret shook her head, "I-I can't."

"Margret please," Tonks grabbed both the girl's hands and pulled them towards her making the girl look her in the eye. "I don't know every much, you need to tell me what is happening. You said it yourself, it is nothing good. You need to tell me. Are they planning on hurting someone? Killing them?"

Margret began to cry again.

"Margret. Margret, please let me help. If you help me I can help you. I can stop them from doing this, no more people will get hurt." Tonks was begging at this point.

"I-If they find out I-" Margret sniffled.

"They won't know. Whatever happens, I didn't get any information from you."

"Promise?"

"I promise." Tonks nodded as she let go of the girl's hands.

"Okay," the first year rubbed her eye. "Okay."

"Who else is involved? Every name you can think of Margret." Tonks reached into the desk for a piece of parchment.

Margret launched into a list of names. Tonks was surprised by the amount the small girl knew.

"How many of them go to Hogswarts?" Tonks asked as she began to count the names. 26 so far.

"Bailey, Tyler, Rebecka, Jon, and Josh."

Tonks circled those names on her list. "Have they attacked students at school?"

The small girl shrugged and sniffled, "They go to meetings. I don't know who's done what."

"Who's in charge?"

"M-My uncle, Robb. He hosts the meetings and leads them. He says they're orders from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Tonks felt her blood go cold. Tom Riddle had his fingers in the school. "You're doing great Margret." Tonks fought the urge to run. "A few more questions, okay?"

The small girl nodded and looked down at her hands.

"Do you know anything about the spells they used?"

"No," Margret pulled her cloak around her tighter. "I'm not supposed to be at the meetings. My dad brings me along when he has me over at his house. My parents are divorced." At Tonks' confused look Margret went further into detail. "I only go to some meetings, I haven't been to any were they talk about spells."

"But they have talked about attacking Muggleborns?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Do you know everyone on the list?" Tonks waved her paper around.

"Yes, they're all family or friends of the family."

Tonks leaned back in her seat, everything was coming together. It made sense.

Riddle was in charge of it all, but he had put a family in charge of creating havoc at the school.

Tonks frowned, that didn't seem like something he would do. She tried thinking back, this wasn't something he had done. Was it? This had to be something different. The time line must be messed up in some way.

Maybe this family was inspired by Riddle? He was very open about his hatred for Muggleborns. This family must agree with him, they must want to have a hand in Riddle's plans.

Yes, that seemed very likely. Right?

So this family was having the students hurt Muggleborns, mainly for the reason that the students can get into the school easily. So when Tonks came along and began to stop them from doing that they hired Mason to stop her.

How did Mason get in?

Tonks head was swelling with the possibilities. "Thank you Margret," Tonks smiled at the girl. "If anything comes up don't hesitate to come tell me, okay?" As she led the girl to the door Tonks began to think of her next steps. The only thing she didn't know was the spell used on the students.

Should she ask Remus if he's made any progress on that list or should she head straight to Dumbledore? Remembering what happened in the Pub, Tonks really didn't want to confront Remus. In her mind his appearance there had been part of her imagination and she didn't want that idea to be erased.

With that on her mind, Tonks made her way to Dumbledore's office with the list in hand.

**_XXX_**

McGonagall pinched the bridge of her nose while Dumbledore studied the list of names with a blank expression. Tonks meanwhile rested her head on the back of the chair while standing in front of the two Professors.

"There is nothing we can do?" Tonks asked, peeking her head up to look at Dumbledore.

"The Ministry will do nothing, not without a valuable source. You said you could not say where the names came from." Dumbledore looked up at her and spoke softly.

"It's for their safety." Tonks pleaded. "If anyone on that list knew they gave names out, this person would be in danger. I hardly got anything from them without swearing that it would remain a secret."

"We must be able to do something," McGonagall looked up. "The Order…"

"We are few and limited. We can keep an eye on them, but that is all we can do."

"When will more security be added to the school?" Tonks asked eagerly.

"Tomorrow morning. You'll be in charge of them."

"Uh…How many?" Tonks had been momentarily shocked by the idea that she was in charge, however she quickly shrugged it off.

"Four, at least for the time being."

"Perfect." Tonks nodded, a plan forming in her head. "That's enough of us to keep an eye on the five at the school. We watch them, we can keep them from attacking anyone else. We could even get lucky and catch them in the act." Tonks was filled with determination, suddenly bouncing off the walls. "I think we're close. I think we got this in the bag." Tonks ran a hand through her pink hair, "I gotta go. I have a few more things to get done."

With that said and done Tonks bolted out of the office leaving the two behind.

"I admire her eagerness." McGonagall gave a tight lipped smile. "But we still have so much more do."

"Small steps, Minerva. Small steps." Dumbledore sighed.

**_XXX_**

"Shouldn't you be at practice?" Remus asked from his position on top of his bed.

"Hush, go back to your textbook." Sirius smiled.

"He's right, we need to be at practice. Ravenclaw is in a week and we have so much to go over." James stood by the door of their dorm fully dressed with his broom in his hand. Sirius however was just in a tank top and boxers. The shaggy haired teen was too preoccupied with placing and lighting candles around the room to even think about Quidditch.

"This must be a fire hazard," Peter mumbled from beside James. He held scorebooks and countless other papers that the team would be going over during practice.

"Hazard, or romantic?" Sirius waved his lit wand in the direction of Peter. In response the smaller boy only squeaked as the flame came close to the drapes that surrounded his bed.

"Who are you trying to put in the mood? My textbook and I?" Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, you. However also a certain colorful time traveler."

"And where would she be?" Remus asked dryly.

Sirius pulled roses out from under his bed and James let out an exasperated sigh. "Peter where is she at?" Sirius asked.

Peter silently pulled out the map, "Er, she's in Dumbledore's office."

Sirius began to pull pedals off the rose and spread them around the room.

"Oh, wait. She's leaving. She's moving really fast."

"Oh! I wonder where she's going?" Sirius asked sarcastically as he finished throwing pedals around the room.

Remus sighed and fell back on his bed. "How am I going to explain this to her?"

"I'd start with 'I love you'," Sirius smirked as he pulled a shirt over his head.

Remus tossed him a glare, "Yeah, sure."

"Come on!" James rushed his friend. He grabbed Sirius' broom and led the way out of the room with Peter and a Sirius who was pulling his pants up.

"Have fun Remus!" Sirius called.

"I hate you all," Remus replied.

Once the door closed Remus thought about quickly clearing the room of the rose pedals and candles, however the image of Tonks walking in on him doing that stopped him. She would think he was in the middle of putting it up, not taking it down.

Sitting up, he thought of what he'd say when she barged in the door.

Should he actually follow Sirius' advice? What was the worst thing to happen? She'd say no. She would stop being friends. She would act differently around him. She'd never talk to him again.

Remus fell forward and put his head into the book. He inhaled the smell of ink and parchment and for a moment it put him at ease.

What was the best thing to happen? She'd say yes. She'd kiss him. She'd be okay with having the love of a werewolf. He'd be happy.

But this wasn't long term. Even if she did accept his love she'd have to go home eventually. She wasn't from this time. She was actually a small child, 13 years younger than he was. When she goes back to her time there was no way to be together. He couldn't see much of a positive future for himself. He couldn't let her be with him.

However these thoughts didn't stop him from being drawn to her.

The sound of heavy footsteps started followed by a yell of, "Remus!" He knew he had no time to prepare. She was here and he had to make up his mind now. Follow Sirius or follow logic.

"Remus!" Tonks barreled into the doorway. She was breathing heavily. "God damn, why do you guys have to live in the highest tower? Anyway-" She stopped in her tracks as she took in the sight of the room. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Sirius thought the room needed something," Remus said. She had pink hair today, which was among his favorite of the colors she wore.

"Uh, okay." Tonks stuttered. She eyed the room before heading over to Remus' bed. Shoving the textbook away she sat down next to him. "So I got some great information."

"On the attackers?" Remus was momentarily taken aback.

"Yes, I have names. An entire list of names! Remus, we're finally getting somewhere!" Tonks was bouncing slightly, making the entire bed move.

"Really?" Remus was amazed. "How did you get the names?"

"I, er. Margret." Tonks stopped bouncing and leaned closer. "But we can't tell anyone where it came from, for her sake. She could be in real danger. The list is basically her entire family." Tonks grabbed Remus' hands and pulled them closer to her. "Promise me you won't tell anyone. Promise."

Remus could hear Sirius yelling at him. He was chanting. Kiss her! Kiss her!

"I promise," Remus breathed. He leaned forward but stopped himself. "Where did you _say_ you got the list from?"

Tonks seemed unaware of how close they were. "I told Dumbledore I couldn't say, and sadly because of that we can't go to the Ministry. But we know now who is behind this. We're no longer just waving our wands in the dark."

"Well, nothing can be perfect. You did it Dora."

Tonks gave a small laugh. "I hate that name, but coming from you I guess I'll let it slide."

Once she had said those words Remus' mind went blank. Sirius was gone and it was silent. Remus doesn't remember deciding on the action, he just knew he was doing it. He leaned forward and kissed her. It was a small kiss, more of a peck really. Tonks had frozen

Remus leaned back, studying her face. She looked to be in shock, her eyes roaming around his face. She looked confused. It was like the entire thing was a puzzle and Tonks was taking a moment to piece it together in her head before acting.

"I- Remus," She breathed the words. "N-Now isn't the time."

Remus felt his heart stop and drop. He sucked in a breath, gulping as much air as his lungs would allow.

"I need that list, the one of possible spells." Tonks spoke evenly.

"I'm still working on it, but I have narrowed down a few." Remus spoke slowly, trying to make his words sound natural.

"Okay, I'll check back in later."

And with that Tonks was gone and Remus was alone and still sucking in as much air as he could.

**_XXX_**

Tonks rested her chin on her desk staring at the pile of Time Turners that sat just before her. They were tangled together in a mess and Tonks was afraid that if she touched them they would send her to another time yet again.

Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. She bounced from the Time Turners in front of her to the attackers to Voldemort, however no matter what she was thinking she always ended back up at Remus. Remus and that kiss. What the hell had that been?

It meant that Sirius' teasing had some meaning. It mean that it wasn't this school boy crush Remus had. Remus actually like her, like really liked her. He had kissed her. On the lips.

And she had bolted.

She scrunched up her face when she thought about what she had said in response. Now wasn't the time.

Which was true. It wasn't. Not with everything going on. She didn't have time for a relationship, she didn't have time to share kisses with anyone. She was stuck in a different time with war just on the brink. Now wasn't the time.

She had so much do to. So much to worry about. And that didn't even cover how seriously she was messing up the time line. She had already screwed up so much.

But still, she was always brought back to that kiss. Remus had kissed her.

Sure she had been kissed before, but for some reason this was different. This had been the shortest kiss she'd ever had but it was the only kiss she couldn't stop thinking about.

Tonks closed her eyes with a sigh. She was so over her head.

She had begun to fall asleep when a loud pounding at the door awoke her. It was rapid and hard. Tonks stared at the door for a moment worrying that it was Sirius and he had come to yell at her. However when a voice yelled her name she knew it wasn't him.

She jumped to her feet and threw the door open to find a sweaty and panting Lily Evens. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and her eyes rimmed with red.

"Lily!" Tonks exclaimed at her appearance.

"Tank," She howled. Tears starting around her eyes. "It's Shannon. She's dead. Tank, she gone. They've killed her." Lily stumbled forward and fell into Tonks' arms. Tonks wrapped her arms around the girl and sank to her knees. Lily's cries echoing the halls of the school.

Tonks didn't know what to do, so she burrowed her head into Lily's neck and held her as tightly as she could.

**SO! I told you I'd be back and that I was planning to keep updating! It's another short one but I'm still getting into rhythm with writing again and I'm just too excited to get another one up for you guys that ya'll gotta settle for a 3k. It was also a great end for a chapter.**

**Things are picking up for Tonks, and Remus too. Where could this new development lead us?**

**Please review and follow! Until next time ~abluenotebook**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: this is a re-edit between the lily and peter confusion/mix up I had. Explanation will be given in the next chapter. **

She must've fucked up.

Somewhere, at some time.

It had to be her. Why else would this have happened? It had to be her fault. She messed this all up somehow.

It hadn't been intentional. She hadn't even known it was happening, but nevertheless it had to be her.

Tonks had ruined the time line. Somehow she had messed it all up.

Tonks was almost positive that no one had died in the original time line. She would remember something like that, wouldn't she? Students don't just die at Hogwarts without being big news.

"Nova?" Sirius was worried by the sudden silence from the time traveler. She had been sitting and staring at one place for far too long. "Professor? What is going to happen next?"

McGonagall looked up from the heap of paperwork that sat on Dumbledore's desk. She looked over at the four Marauders and the still security guard. They had been called into Dumbledore's office shortly after Lily had found Tonks. Since then Lily had been taken to the hospital wing for to be given a potion to calm her down.

"I'm not sure," McGonagall looked solemn.

Sirius ran a hand through his hair and began pacing. James was shocked as he sat next to a sniffling Peter with a hand rested on the smaller boys back. Remus however looked to be a whirlwind of emotions. Angry, confused, sad, shocked, lonely.

"What are we doing here? We should be doing something." Sirius was harsh with his words as he continued pacing.

"Dumbledore wants you here for the time being," McGonagall replied unfazed by his tone.

"I should be with Lily," Murmured James. McGonagall didn't respond.

It was then that Tonks seemed to come back to life. She looked over at her boys and began to tremble.

She stood abruptly, still shaking. "I have to go." She declared before running from the room not hearing the calls from Sirius.

She rushed down the staircase and through the halls of the school. She didn't know if this current rampage she was on was worth anything, or if she was even heading in the right direction. She stopped before the entrance of Ravenclaw Tower.

Before a riddle could even be stated Tonks was yelling. Curses and demands flying from her mouth only seemed to do nothing and make Tonks become even more frustrated. She had only just grabbed her wand to blast the door open when it swung open on its own accord.

Tonks was satisfied that her yelling had worked and paid no mind to the real reason why the door had opened, a confused fifth year who was leaving. Tonks rushed inside and got ready to yell out more demands when she spotted the two students she was looking for sitting together across the room.

Stomping over to them she quickly spat out her words, "You two. Follow me, now."

Olive and Mark looked at one another confused but stood to follow Tonks out of the room. Leading them to an abandoned classroom, Tonks had them sit.

At this point she was still fuming but forced herself to calm down.

"So, long time no see."

Olive gave a short laugh, "Yeah, sure."

"I'm gonna cut to the chase, no bullshit. Alright?" Tonks paced in front of their seats and paid no mind to Mark's shocked look at her curse. "You two know something about what happened to Shannon."

"Why would we?" Olive became defensive. "If we knew anything wouldn't we have come clean months ago? We want to help Shannon. She's a friend."

"Well it's a bit late for helping Olive." Tonks stopped pacing and looked the child in the eye. "You're friend Shannon died today."

Tonks took a moment to study their expressions. Mark looked suddenly ill while Olive froze.

"You have two seconds to begin explaining everything you know or I will have you expelled on withholding information. This is a serious case. A first year is dead." Tonks placed her hands on the desk before the two and leaned towards them, hoping she was being menacing enough that they wouldn't catch her lie. There was no way Tonks could get the two of them expelled.

Mark paled at her words and began to stutter before Olive gave him a glare. "We know nothing," She stated.

"Olive," Mark begged, his eyebrows furrowed. He looked between Tonks and Olive before saying, "We know something."

"Mark!" Olive scolded.

"She's dead Olive." The boy argued. He turned to Tonks. "We watched them attack her. Three students, I don't know their names." Mark drew in a shaky breath. "They didn't want to attack us because we're purebloods. Instead they threatened us, they said they would let us go if we kept quiet."

"Mark," Olive scolded. "I don't want to die. So thanks for that, really." Olive upheld a sarcastic tone but her face melted into a look of worry.

"I'm sorry!" Mark's voice cracked as he spoke. "She'd dead Olive, the least we can do is solve her murder."

Tonks looked between the arguing students before interjecting herself. "So you were there? When they cast the spell? Gave her the potion?"

The two looked between themselves as if unsure to respond.

"I can catch them." Tonks assured them. "If you tell me everything you know I promise they won't hurt you."

"It was a spell," Olive stated refusing to make eye contact with Tonks.

"Did you see the attackers? Their faces?" Tonks was eager, practically jumping up and down.

"Yeah," Mark said as Olive nodded.

"Come with me," Tonks smiled. "We need to see Dumbledore."

**_XXX_**

"I must say that I am impressed."

Tonks allowed herself to smile as she nodded at the Minister.

The Minister, a woman by the name of Millicent Bagnold, stood in Dumbledore's office. She looked over the vials of memories before her. "You have more than enough evidence to stop these attackers. Though I am surprised that it was a group of students."

At that Tonks felt her smile slip away. With Olive and Mark, Tonks was able to prove that three students had been behind the attack of Shannon. Tyler Rood, Rebecka All, and Jon Bute.

It was three of the five students Tonks already knew was behind the attacks. However she wasn't able to prove that anymore students had been involved. Tonks still had two students and an entire list of people that were responsible.

"With such good security and staff here at the school I think I can safely say that the school can remain open." Millicent continued. She gave Tonks a smile, her aging face showing its appreciation. "I hope you give her a raise Albus."

Dumbledore chuckled, "She has proven herself."

Millicent let her smile fade away, "I'll call in some Aurors to gather the students. We'll also assist with contacting families. It's a shame we had to experience such a tragedy, but at least we've ended it."

"Wait," Tonks frowned. This wasn't over. "What about Eddie? The other boy?"

"What about him?" The minister asked.

"His attackers?" Tonks felt desperation growing inside her.

Millicent furrowed her brows, "He has the same attackers. He was attacked in the same manner, so we have reasons to believe he was attacked by the same people."

"What about my attacker? I wasn't attacked in the same way."

Millicent shuffled her feet uneasily. "Why would anyone other than the ones who attacked Shannon have any reason to attack you? This case is closed."

Tonks felt a dislike for the woman growing inside her. She wanted to leave. "Professor, I need to take care of a few more things. If you would please excuse me."

"Of course Miss Tank," Dumbledore nodded.

With that said Tonks left the room on a search for a certain group of four.

**_XXX_**

"It was your idea, so that means you need to comfort him." James whispered to Sirius.

"It is your fault," Peter piped up from his spot of the grass.

"Peter agrees," James shrugged.

"I can hear you," Remus called from his spot at the base of a tree. "I don't need comforting."

The three looked at each other with grimaces. Finally Sirius stepped forward, "Remus."

"No Sirius," Remus looked up from his textbook. "My failed love life is unimportant. I shouldn't have even tried, it was pointless. We have more important things to do anyway."

"What are you doing?" Peter asked. "Are you still looking for spells? Now that Shannon's dead they can find out what killed her." Peter spoke softly, the pain evident in his voice.

"I'm looking up time traveling," Remus looked back at his book.

"What, why?" Sirius asked. He walked closer to his friend who had his back to a tree near the lake.

"For her," Remus sighed. "When she first came here she was looking into time travel. Why would she do that? If she is this amazing time traveler and is here to fix things, why would she be holed up in the library looking through every book the school has on time travel?"

"And?" James asked.

"Maybe she's stuck here. Maybe she messed up somehow."

"Uh huh," Sirius nodded, he doubted Remus' words. "That's a bit farfetched buddy."

Remus glared, "I just want to help."

"You just want to get back in her good graces," Sirius stated.

"Hey!"

"Speak of the devil," Sirius laughed to himself as he turned and spotted Tonks heading towards them.

Tonks stopped before the four that sat at the base of the tree. She didn't miss the fact that Remus was the only one that didn't look up at her approach. "It's done, Shannon's murder has been solved."

There was a stunned silence before James finally squeaked out a single word. "Really?"

"Yeah, but that's the good news." Tonks continued.

"What's the bad news?" James asked.

"It's three of the five students that I know are involved in this. That means that we still have two attackers loose in the school. And that doesn't even cover the list of names I have."

Sirius leaned back and put his hands behind his head, "Are you even sure this list is real? Is your source trustworthy?"

"Trustworthy doesn't really matter. It may be false or it may be real, we don't know until we look into it." Tonks huffed at Sirius' accusations. "I also have another source that puts one of the remaining attackers with Eddie's attack."

"Another source?" James piped up. "Can you bring this source to the Ministry?"

Tonks sighed, "Paintings can't really be put down as a good source. And besides that the case on that attackers has been closed."

"Closed?" Remus finally looked up. "What does that mean?"

"Officially in the Ministries eyes the attackers at Hogwarts have been caught and taken care of." Tonks said bitterly. "However we are not part of the Ministry."

"So we're still on it?" Sirius smirked.

"Yes," Tonks nodded. "And with more help too. The Order has a few new people here to help me out."

"We should get started!" James was eager. He aggressively waved at his friends to follow him as he began up towards the castle. Peter jumped up to follow while Sirius rolled his eyes first before jogging to catch up.

Tonks looked back and saw Remus slowly closing books and gathering his stuff. For a moment she wondered if she should say something, apologize maybe?

No. Maybe if she ignores this situation it'll go away. That would be in their best interest.

"Tonks," Remus began. Tonks knew her hopes of ignoring this were dashed. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I should've have been so forward. I-"

"No Remus." Tonks interrupted him. "Don't be sorry. Don't ever be sorry for acting on love. It was brave." She fell silent and the two just looked at each other for a moment before Tonks gained enough confidence to continue. "It's a rare quality to have Remus, don't lose it."

Tonks felt an urge to kiss him but remained where she was before turning and nodding her head back to the castle. Where had that urge come from? Kiss him? Didn't she just turn him down? What was wrong with her?

_**AN:**_** So it has been a little while, sorry! I was busy all last week. Also this chapter is very short and only a few things happen. It was just a few important points and I really wanted to get something up and start fresh for the next chapter.**

**Anyway, Tonks and Remus eh? Things are getting thicker.**

**~thebluenotebook**


	18. Chapter 18

Tonks should've been used disappointment, however she just never was. Dumbledore had told her she was getting four members of the Order to help, however that wasn't what happened.

While the Order did have quite a few people, it was still difficult to find people who had the time to actually help out. Most people had lives and jobs and families.

This was the reason why Tonks was currently looking at one person rather than four.

He was a small man, he had a neatly groomed beard that was a few shades darker than his hair. With one look Tonks knew he was the type to wear a button up sweater every day, which was odd because of the detailed tattoos that peaked out from the sleeves. His name was Tim, and he was a romance writer (he had wanted to make it clear that this was the reason why he was able to have the time to help, rather than being unemployed).

Tim looked a little unnerved as he looked at the row of students that were looking him up. They all were in Tonks' office having a meeting, however that didn't stop the doubtful looks from the four.

"I take it that Dumbledore briefed you?" Tonks asked. She was pacing slightly, trying to clear her mind.

"Erm, yeah." Tim stood still, his eyes darted from Tonks to the Marauders. At this point they had gathered closer together and begun whispering. Tonks knew that they couldn't possibly have anything to whisper about, but they were doing it just to freak Tim out. At least she hoped. "Dumbledore said," Tim continued on. "That I'm the new security, that the school doesn't want any more attacks so they hired more help."

"Good, good." Tonks nodded. "And you're caught up so far on the case?"

"Y-yeah, three students arrested. You still have a list of more that could be involved?"

"There's only two more here at the school. I'm not sure what we can do about the list of names of adults." Tonks bit her lip as she murmured that last part to herself. "But, um… Two names." Tonks quickly rushed towards her desk after sidestepping past the four, she riffled through the papers that cluttered the area. Finally she came up with two pictures of students.

"Bailey Robbs, sixth year Ravenclaw." Tonks helped up the picture of her for Tim. She had long brown hair and the same green eyes as Margret. She looked like any other girl her age, and one that definitely would not be going after muggle-borns.

Tim took the picture and studied it for a moment before nodding. Out of the corner of her eye Tonks could see Sirius mocking him.

"And this is Josh, seventh year and also in Ravenclaw." Josh was skinny and had large glasses that made his eyes look much larger than they actually were. "With the case closed it's going to be really hard to prove that these two are involved. We have to catch them in the act." Tonks at this point was really just talking to Tim, however the Marauders inched closer wanting to remain involved. "At the very least I don't want any other students in danger. No more visits to the hospital wing."

"No promises," Remus muttered causing Sirius to snort.

Tonks glared in their direction. "Keep the pictures Tim," Tonks continued on. "And keep your eyes on Josh and Bailey, but other than that for the moment you're just security. Hand out detentions, walk through the school. The norm."

Tim folded the pictures and shoved them in his pocket, "I can do that. Anything else while I'm here?"

Before any of the four could open their mouth for some kind of remark Tonks quickly shook her head and showed Tim out of her office. The first thing said once the door closed behind him was by Sirius, "pleasant guy."

Tonks rolled her eyes, no matter what at least she could always rely on the humor from her cousin to come through. "I don't have much planned for the rest of today, you should get caught up on your school work."

All four groaned at her words.

"Well at least spend the day as normal teens," Tonks corrected herself. "Isn't today Friday? Don't you have a Quidditch tomorrow or something?"

The Marauders shared a sheepish look with one another and Tonks knew she was right.

"Go be normal, prepare for tomorrow. I can handle things here." Tonks opened the door are motioned them out.

Sirius led the way, moodily stomping out of the room. He was followed by Peter who gave Tonks a small smile, and then James who mockingly copied Sirius. Finally it was Remus, who paused in the doorway for a moment. Tonks felt her heart pick up speed.

"Are you coming?" Remus asked, he refused to meet her eyes as he spoke. "To the match tomorrow?"

"Y-yes, of course. Front row as always, I love Quidditch." Tonks fumbled over the words. "Will you save me a seat?"

"You won't be sitting with the teachers?" Remus frowned, finally looked at her.

"Er, the teachers aren't really the type to yell. I make myself horse nearly every match I go to." Tonks was suddenly aware how awkward this conversation was. "I don't have any Gryffindor gear though, I might look out of place."

"Oh, I might have a spare scarf." Remus went back to not making eye contact. His eyes flickered around to everything but Tonks.

"T-thanks. Well, see you tomorrow then?" Tonks quickly ended the conversation.

"Yeah, tomorrow." Remus nodded and then walked through the door.

Tonks closed the door behind him and then leaned back against the door with a sigh. That worse than any conversation she'd ever had, and back in her training days both her and Mad-Eye had been trapped in a room together for over 24 hours. Well actually, it wasn't nearly as bad as that. However it was still pretty bad.

Also, what was she doing? Was this a date? Wasn't that the exact opposite of what she'd wanted? No interference.

**_XXX_**

Ok a little interference couldn't hurt. Tonks had woke up that morning with full intentions of pretending that she had a stomach ache. However when she got up for breakfast and spotted all the students dressed in their Quidditch gear and banners, she got too excited to fake a stomach ache.

She hadn't really played while in school, only a few times with friends for fun on a sunny day, but she had always had a love for the sport. It was a fast paced game that always kept you on your toes. The game could be over at any moment but still the score kept climbing up. It was a rush that Tonks always participated in, and she hadn't been to a match since she graduated. She couldn't pass it up now.

Tonks walked through the hall and sat at the teachers table next to Hagrid. He was pleasant to sit next to, always had something to talk about. However most of the time it wasn't something you'd want to hear while eating, or ever really. A conversation about hippogriff poop could only go so far.

Today fortunately he stayed away from poop talk. "Ms. Tank, Dumbledore tol' me 'bout how you solved the attacks."

"Yeah, I did." Tonks nodded as she began to shovel eggs into her mouth. "A little too late though, Shannon died." Tonks chewed a bit angrily at the thought.

"Yeah," Hagrid nodded. "Sad that is, but you figured the attack out. Stopped it fro' happen' again." Hagrid gave her a small nudge with his elbow causing Tonks to look up and see his smile.

"Yeah, hopefully." Tonks murmured. After that Hagrid seemed to understand to let the conversation go and changed it to the migration patterns of the Diricawl, some kind of dodo bird that had found its way to the school grounds.

Once she'd eaten and said goodbye to Hagrid, Tonks spotted the Marauders. She strolled over to them and sat down between Peter and Remus.

"Nova!" Sirius greeted happily. "Excuse me, where is your spirit?"

Tonks looked down, she was wearing her normal clothes with a black cloak. "Uh…"

"I was bringing her some," Remus interjected. He unwrapped the scarf from around his neck and wrapped it around Tonks. She noticed that his hands seemed to linger a little longer than needed. The scarf was intoxicating, it smelt like him. Sweet and smooth, Tonks could sit there and breath it in forever.

"-is unacceptable. Okay Nova?"

"What?" Tonks realized that she'd missed most of what James had been saying. God, if she was going to keep up with these crazy thoughts she couldn't let them be noticeable.

"I said, no cheering is unacceptable." James gave her a weird look.

"Right," Tonks nodded. She didn't miss the look that Sirius gave Remus, and felt a slight blush starting. She quickly used her metamorphmagus abilities to hide it. "So, Ravenclaw?"

"Yeah, we're gonna-" Sirius began, his fist rising into the air.

"Hey," James interrupted. "Save it for the game." He placed his hand over Sirius' and pushed it back down.

"We should get going," Peter piped up.

"We?" Tonks asked and all three of them started to stand. "I didn't know Peter was on the team?"

"Oh, I'm not." Peter shook his head. "I'm just keeping score. James wants to keep track of personal bests and things like that."

"Oh, so… Just the two of us." Tonks motioned to Remus.

"Yeah, that's okay right?" Remus asked as he picked up his drink.

"Of course, why wouldn't it?" Tonks turned her attention to the empty glass in front of her, fiddling with it with her fingers.

"Erm, well… I just, well things have been awkward since I kissed you. Well…" Remus stuttered through his sentence.

"No, no it's fine. Nothing to worry about. I-" Tonks looked up and noticed that the other three had already disappeared. "Oh."

"Well then, I guess we should go find seats?" Remus asked, pausing to look at her.

"Yes," Tonks was beginning to wonder if this was a good idea. She could still pull of the stomach ache.

However before she knew it the two of them had walked all the way to the pitch in an awkward silence. They were both sitting next to the tunnel Gryffindor would come out of still silent despite the growing loudness that was beginning to surround them.

A sharp breeze blew by and Tonks burrowed herself further into the scarf, which made the smell of it more noticeable. She glanced over at Remus, he was looking around the pitch with a mild interest.

"So, what's the record?" Tonks asked, leaning towards him so he could hear over the noise.

"Oh um, not sure exactly. I haven't been really paying attention." Remus shrugged. "I think we're ahead?"

"Oh," Tonks replied. She looked away from him and casually glanced around the pitch. Across from them Tonks laid eyes on not one but two people that she had been paying close attention to lately. Bailey and Josh. She sat up straight and leant forward, grabbing the ledge in front of her.

"What?" Remus asked, shocked by her sudden movement.

"Bailey and Josh," Tonks motioned. Remus went to work searching for them but Tonks was preoccupied with watching them. They both turned to each other and stood up, leaving the stands. "They're leaving! Remus we have to follow them!"

"What?" Remus was confused. "Follow them?" He asked dumbly.

"Let's go!" Tonks was up and running up the stairs to the way out of the pitch.

"I- but, the game…" Remus watched her until she disappeared. He then sighed and got up to rush after her. By the time Remus caught up with her she had already rounded the corner and was speed-walking around the pitch to the other side. "James and Sirius are going to kill us when they see we aren't there." Remus said aloud, however Tonks ignored the comment. Remus tried again, "the pitch is also a circle, what if they went the other way? We might miss them. Also we can't let them see us, they'll know that we're onto them."

Tonks was only have listening to Remus' rambles. She was still moving swiftly, dodging oncoming students. That was until she spotted the two, in that very same second was when Remus's words began to process, they can't be seen by them. Tonks stopped in her steps causing Remus to run into her.

"What?" Remus asked.

Tonks began to morph her face and her hair before pushing Remus up against the nearby wall. She grabbed his face by the cheek and pulled his head down. "Wrap your hands around me," she quietly ordered. Remus followed instructions without question.

They both stayed there for a few moments until Tonks was sure that the two she had been following had passed. She looked over her shoulder and luckily saw them as they walked through the crowd.

"Come on Remus," Tonks pulled Remus along with her as she began to follow. Silently they weaved between the students, trying to keep an eye on their suspects but not follow them too closely.

"What if they spot me? You can just do that, I didn't even realize you were a metamorphmagus. I thought you jinxed your hair every day." Remus whispered into her ear.

"If they spot you they'll just think that you're on a date with a Gryffindor girl," Tonks patted her scarf as they continued the slow chase. "Also sorry about that, back there. I'm giving you mixed messages."

"It was for work, I understand." Remus replied.

For a brief moment Tonks let her mind drift back to the way Remus had breathed against her neck while they had stood closely to each other, but quickly brought herself out of it. They were on a mission right now and she needed to focus.

The two followed the students to a side of the pitch where no one was around.

"They'll see us out here, Tonks." Remus murmured.

Tonks was already on it, she looked at the decorative covers that surrounded the legs of the bleachers. Pulling it up she noted that there was enough room for people to go about underneath the stadium. "In we go," she declared as she lifted the flap and dragged Remus underneath.

"Isn't he supposed to be here already?" Tonks could hear Bailey from where they were. She leant close to the flaps, finding a hole to peak through. Through the hole she could make out Bailey as she stared at Josh, however she was unable to see most of his body.

"Sneaking into Hogwarts is difficult, cut him some slack." Josh replied with a bit of attitude.

"Yeah give me some slack!" Tonks watched as the two students turned to look at someone new. Tonks adjusted her stance as she tried to see who it was. "Did we have to meet at the school? Hogsmeade is so much easier."

Finally Tonks spotted him, Mason Eb. She gasped but then quickly clamped a hand over her own mouth. "What?" Remus whispered. Tonks shook her head as she continued to listen.

"You have to get rid of her," Bailey demanded.

"Kill her? Why what has she done now?" Mason asked as he placed his hands on his hips.

"She caught three of us," Bailey wasn't in the mood for the attitude Mason was displaying. "We can't continue anything now."

"Continue? Why not?" Mason continued to question.

Bailey looked from Mason to Josh, "Oh, erm." Josh wasn't prepared to be put on the spot. "Well the case is officially closed because they think they caught everyone involved. Continuing will only make things difficult, for us mainly."

"Don't explain it to him," Bailey shook her head at Josh. "Listen Eb, our family hired you for your services not for your opinions. So when I say get rid of her, get rid of her."

"Okay, okay, I'm just wondering how it'll help the situation. You can't continue so what good will getting rid of her do?"

"He does have a good point Bailey," Josh pointed out.

Mason reached over and patted Josh's shoulder.

"It's payback, Rebecka, Tyler, and Jon were expelled Josh!" Bailey was getting frustrated. "They can't legally ever use magic again, and she's the one responsible."

Mason then reached over and patted Bailey on the shoulder, "okay. I'm hearing you, I just wanted to make sure you had thought this through. Killing someone is serious business, you have to live with those decisions forever. Do you mind how I do it?"

"I don't care," Bailey ground out between her teeth.

"Okay, it's be extra though. Murder, disposing the body, entering school grounds, it's really all tricky work."

"I'll owl home now," Josh said. "Come on, they're normally really fast."

Tonks watched the three of them leave, but it wasn't until she was sure they were gone before she turned to Remus.

"They weren't talking about you, were they?" Remus asked, he had worry all over his face. He had his hands on Tonks' arms as he looked at her.

"Yeah they were, and that was Mason- the guy that attacked me." Tonks was a little shocked, she had just witnessed the deal about how she should die.

Remus continued to hold her there and he simply looked at her. She was oddly still, and he was slightly amazed at how her face slowly morphed back into her own. Her hair however slowly turned into a light brown color, a sad color on her. She always wore something more vibrant. Without further thought Remus pulled Tonks into a tight hug. He held her as if she would disappear if he would let go. Tonks also held onto him, she felt the same way, like she might fade away and there was nothing she could do about it.

"It'll be okay," Remus whispered into her ear. "We have Tim, he's a reliable guy, pleasant."

Tonks is reminded of what Sirius had commented on the guy and gave a short laugh.

"And Dumbledore, can't forget him. He's a great wizard." Remus squeezed her tighter. "And us, all four of us. You can always count on us. You're a Marauder, remember? We all go out swinging for each other."

Tonks gave another laugh, but she felt like she was choking. "You guys shouldn't go out for me, you have things to do in life. I've seen them. You're all important."

"So are you." Tonks could feel a tears wanting to fall. "Just because you haven't seen the things you'll do, doesn't mean you're not as important as the rest of us." Remus spoke slowly and softly.

She took a deep breath and pulled out of Remus' arms. She stared at him. He still had his arms around her as he stared right back. He looked so honest and kind, the light scars that decorated his face only seemed to bring out his character. It showed how hard he was willing to fight. Which to Tonks was too hard, it was too hard for her. He was important, and getting his love – if that's what she could call it – wasn't something she should have done. She interfered so much that now she was risking not only her life but his life too. From looking at his face she knew that he won't just let her die, he won't back off no matter what she said.

So it was about this point that everything starting to go downhill. This may not have been the part where Tonks fell in love with Remus, but this was the part when she decided 'fuck it'.

She grabbed his face with both of her hands and leant in. She kissed him hard, and for a moment he did nothing. Well actually it was longer than a moment and she was about to back away and apologize when he finally seemed to wake up. He pulled her closer and kissed her back with just as much ferocity as she had to him.

And there they were, making out under the stands in the middle of a Quidditch game. It was like they were both normal kids at Hogwarts, only it wasn't. Tonks wasn't from this time, and she had just sealed her own death wish. She was actually an adult compared to Remus, but when she is back in her own time it was actually Remus that had the years on her. Everything was just a big mess, but this was a 'fuck it' moment and 'fuck it' moments don't care.

**AN: So, hey! It's been awhile, sorry about that. :/ I'm going to say now that I have no clue when the next chapter will be out but I promise that I do intend to finish this story. I don't know when, or how much longer but I am planning on it. And if for some reason I decide that I'm done I will post something and tell everyone. **

**This chapter was really hard to write, I didn't know where to take it next. I know how I want the story to end, it's just everything in the middle I'm not sure about. However I think I know what's going to happen now, SO hopefully chapters do come out must faster now. When I have spare time I'll actually be able to do something with this story.**

**Also, thank you so much to VlightPhase for leaving the review about how I mixed up with the Lily and Peter thing, I didn't even realize. And I did fix it, it anyone already read that and wanted to go back.**

**So, they kissed! Honestly I was so giddy after I wrote that, a S/O to a fuck it moment! The plot thickens even more, Tonks now has a expiration date. **

**I love reviews! Keep them coming! ~abluenotebook**


	19. Chapter 19

Tonks sat in the locker room just looking at her hands as the four chattered to each other nervously.

"Well how could he have gotten onto school grounds so easily? Spells and-"

"Does that really matter!" Remus was getting frustrated. "She's in danger and we have to do something, he's here now!"

"He said he'd warn me," Tonks muttered. She was in a bit of a daze, her mind kept going between all the possible plans. Closing her eyes she wished she could keep it blank for awhile.

"What?" James asked. He stepped towards Tonks and looked down at her. His hair was wet from the shower he'd just taken and he was only wearing pants. Remus and Tonks has wasted no time in finding the rest of the Marauders once the match had ended.

"The first time Mason attacked me he told me that if he ever got orders to kill me…" Tonks' voice caught in her throat for a moment. "T-that he'd warn me first."

"No, that doesn't matter." Remus shook his head. "There is no chance that he'll do that. This is the man after your life Tonks, why trust what he says!"

Tonks buried her face in her hands at Remus' yelling. She might have just kissed the man, but she wanted nothing more than to punch him now.

"We go to Dumbledore," Sirius intervened. "Tell him what you know, how you found out. He'll call the order. Maybe you leave the school."

Tonks' mind was racing again, thinking of what she could do. She couldn't take on Mason, he was an assassin and she really should stop getting into the habit of intervening in this timeline.

Maybe she should leave the school. But then what would she do? The only reason she came to Hogwarts was to find a way home, but instead she had gotten mixed up in this mess.

"Yeah, maybe you should leave." James agreed and spoke softly to Tonks.

"Leave?" Tonks' voice wavered as she fought off tears. "Leave! And go where?" Tonks stood slowly. "Where could I go? I know nobody here! I only know you four! I need to… go home."

"Home?" Peter repeated. "What do you mean?"

Tonks looked between the faces of the four before her, taking in the looks of realization. "I should go home, back to my time. Mason won't find me there, I won't have someone out to kill me."

"But, there's a war. Right?" The fear and anger had left Remus' voice. He now sounded lost.

"Yeah, but it's a war I had to fight in. I shouldn't have gotten involved here, it's time for me to go home."

James placed a hand on her shoulder, "but thank you." Tonks frowned at him. "Thank you for helping, you saved lives. You saved Lily."

Tonks placed her hand over James and smiled, maybe everything she had done had been worth it. Maybe it had been necessary.

Tonks looked over the four, "I still need your help. I have no clue how to get home."

_**XXX**_

With a sigh Tonks placed her quill down and leaned back in her chair. She looked over what she had just written in the dim candle light. It was a list. A list of everything she knew about what had happened here and what she had interfered with.

Snape's odd behavior, Regulus Black and his relationship to Sirius, how Margaret looked familiar. It continued on and Tonks added notes to each point. She really didn't know why she felt the need to write this all down, who was this for? Herself?

After a moment Tonks sat up and added one last note. Remus Lupin.

She stared at it for a moment before making a dash next to his name.

"- good guy"

Tonks frowned and crossed it out.

"- boyfriend"

She pursed her lips and added more

"- boyfriend (?)"

She placed the quill down again and rubbed her eyes. What was up with Remus?

Tonks didn't wait for the ink to dry, she blew on it once before folding it and stuffing it into her pocket.

She reached for another piece of parchment to start a fresh list, this one for Tim. If she was going to leave, then Tim would be put in charge of security here at the school and he still had a big job to do. He had to watch out for Bailey and Josh, and any other dangers.

However the more Tonks tried to focus on this list the less she seemed to write down. Her mind kept wandering to the Marauders. She was going to leave and they were going to fall face first into the war. James and Lily won't live much longer, perhaps a year or two?

And she could change that. A few words to them, and then suddenly this entire war is different. But then what would become of Voldemort?

Tonks could feel herself choking up, there was nothing she could do. Nothing she could risk. She needed to leave them all alone. Reaching into her pocket she unfolded the parchment and looked at the smeared word next to Remus' name. She should cross that out. She shouldn't be involved with him like that, she could ruin his future. What if he is meant to fall in love with someone else? Meant to raise kids and save the world?

But back in the present day Remus didn't have any kids, he wasn't involved with anyone. He took one day at a time, helped with the Order, and loved Harry.

It wasn't a horrible existence, but he deserved more. He deserved love. _He was so worth loving. _But was she worthy of giving it to him? Could she only make a mess of things?

Was it worth it?

He was worth it.

Tonks stood from her desk, she stared down at the word next to Remus' name. Quickly she grabbed it and stuffed it into her pocket before making a dash towards the door. She may not be able to tell the Marauders much about their future, but she was able to tell Remus that he was worth it.

_**XXX**_

Remus sat in the Library surrounded by sleeping Marauders far after hours. He was deep into a large textbook trying to figure out how to get Tonks home. He had looked over this same book at least twice before but he hadn't been able to understand what they needed to do. It seemed like it would either be as easy as just jumping forwards a few years at a time or would require five wizards to perform spells to jinx the time turner.

"Pst! Remus!"

Looking up from the textbook Remus saw Tonks walking towards him. She stepped around a snoring Peter to stand next to him. "Hey I want to talk to you about a few things- what are you doing?" Tonks leaned forward to read what he was looking at. "Y-you're researching time travel? Remus it's like 2am."

"You want to talk and it's like 2am." Remus gave her a look.

"Most students do homework at 2am, not research how to get me back to my correct time. Anyway I said I wanted help not for you to do it all by yourself." Tonks gave him a look right back.

"Anyway, a talk?" Remus leaned away from the book, eagerly wanting to change the subject.

"Yeah, the uh… kiss."

"Oh," Remus glanced around at his sleeping friends, who he hadn't told anything to yet. "Yeah, let's let them sleep though." Remus stood and lead the way away. A few rows over Remus stopped and turned to look at Tonks.

Feeling awkward Tonks was suddenly interested in an old book that sat at her eye level, "Um, so." She muttered as she fingered the binding on the book. "So that kiss, um… I really threw you through a loop there didn't I?"

"Uh, yeah." Remus nodded.

"I- just wanted to talk about how that affects me going back home, because I liked it. The kiss." Tonks glanced over at Remus who had a blank face. "And when I go back, I know you'll know me but I won't. At least not until after I go back. I- er, what I'm trying to say is that if you still want to. I mean, you don't have to because it'll be a lot of time but, I'd still be down to kiss you." Tonks looked away as she hid her grimace at the horrible speech she just gave.

"No."

"What?" Tonks turned back, confused.

"I don't think that'll be a good idea, we shouldn't." Remus still had a blank look on his face.

"Uh…" Tonks was confused. After all this time of him hiding that he liked her, of him acting on it and her turning him down. After all of that, he suddenly had change of heart? "Okay."

"It's not you, or anything you did." Remus continued. "It's the time. A lot of years. A lot of war. It just wouldn't be a good idea."

Tonks felt her heart beating in her chest, it was overpowering every noise around her. "Yeah, I understand. It was good while it lasted, right?" Tonks forced a smile and stuck out her hand for Remus. He responded with a forced smile of his own and reached forward to shake her hand. "Well, you should get to bed. I'll be going."

With that done and said, Tonks made her escape. Remus sighed once she was out of sight, he felt like he had his own heart ripped out.

He walked back over to his seat to get back to work on the textbook, however when he entered the isle he spotted James propped up on his hand and wide awake. "Why?" He asked, his words seeming loud and aggressive against the quiet.

Remus knew he must've heard, but played stupid anyway. "Why what? I just stepped away for a moment."

"Why did you just tell her to fuck off? I thought you liked her? At least enough that after a few years you'd want to give it a try." James sat up as he questioned his friend.

Remus sat down and looked at the open book blankly, "because James. I'll be older than her, I'll be a danger to her."

"Didn't really sound like she cared, she trusts you. You're not dangerous Remus." James countered his arguments gently.

"Who knows what'll happen to me after school James. The war is starting, fighting everywhere. Will I even be able to find a job being what I am? I don't want to put her through whatever I have to go through. She has a choice and it shouldn't be me."

"But it is. She chose you."

"I'm not an option, not in her time."

_**XXX**_

Tonks sat across from Dumbledore in his office. They were alone and it was deafeningly quiet. She had finally told Dumbledore the truth, she felt that it was time. She hadn't told the Marauders that she was going to, they didn't need to know.

"I really wish you had told me from the beginning," Dumbledore finally replied.

"I'm sorry Professor." Tonks sighed. "I was panicked, I tried to fix it on my own."

"And you did a lot of meddling," Dumbledore looked at her in a way that made her feel like she was a kid again and she had earned another trip to the headmasters office. "I'll look into it."

"I'm leaving soon, the next few days. I've already done too much and now those two students have sent someone after me."

"Ah, Mason Eb. You spoke of him before yes?"

Tonks nodded, "That's why I think it's best if I leave. Doing anything may only make matters worse."

"Do you have everything sorted out?" Dumbledore looked at her over his glasses making Tonks almost second guess her words.

"Yeah, I have the Marauders helping me. They truthfully don't take no for an answer, and I needed the help."

"I wish you luck then, and the hope that you won't find yourself in this situation again."

"Yeah, hope." Tonks nodded. "Thank you Professor."

**AN: A short one but I wanted to get out there and post something. I've had some real shit happen in my life lately and wanted to do something artful and nice for once.**

**ANYWAY, things are really moving now! Shit really hit the fan! What are your thoughts? Tell me in the reviews! I wanna know!**

**~thebluenotebook**


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